Ireland’s vision of commercialising its significant ocean energy potential has taken a step forward with an announcement from Vattenfall that it wants to develop commercial-scale ocean energy plants in the country.
The Swedish firm – the fifth largest electricity supplier in Europe – has created a joint venture company with Irish wave energy company Wavebob to examine the development potential of a site off the coast of Mayo County in Ireland.
Through the joint venture firm – called Tonn Energy – Vattenfall and Wavebob hope to first construct and operate a 5 MW array before considering development of up to 250 MW of capacity. Their plans have the backing of IDA Ireland, the Irish government’s investment and development agency.
“I have articulated my intention that Ireland, with its unparalleled ocean resources, should become a world leader in renewable energy,” said Ireland’s Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan. “The participation of a major power utility like Vattenfall, together with the commitment of its Irish partners – which I applaud – in Ireland’s energy programme, marks a further step toward realising the considerable opportunities represented by our ocean wave energy resource.”
The County Mayo site has been selected by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), an agency set up by the government in 2002, and is a key element of the government’s Ocean Energy Programme.
Vattenfall says that Ireland’s wave conditions as well as the government’s support for ocean energy have made the country a target market for development of wave energy technology. It plans to spend the next two years focussing on site selection, pilot tests and permitting before moving on to the development and operation of a demonstration project.
Tonn Energy will use Wavebob’s wave energy converter, an axi-symmetric self-reacting buoy structure that can be deployed in large arrays.
Irish firm ESB International will provide engineering expertise to the project.
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