Ryan announces €26m for wave power research

The Green Party's Energy Minister Eamon Ryan announced a major programme of activity, grants and supports in Cork today to develop ocean energy in Ireland. Over €26m in targeted funding will go to the sector over the next three years. The Minister also announced a significant boost for the future of the sector with the first ever guaranteed price for wave energy.

In 2008, the initiative will include:

• €1m towards a world class, state-of-the-art National Ocean Energy facility in UCC. The Facility will now have an advanced wave basin for the development and testing of early ocean energy devices.
• €2m to support to develop a grid-connected wave energy test site at Annagh/French Point near Belmullet, Co. Mayo.
• €2m in grants this year under the Ocean Energy Prototype Fund. This will help developers to make their devices commercial.
• The introduction, of a new feed-in-tariff under the REFIT scheme for wave energy of €220 per MegaWatt Hour.
• €500,000 this year to establish an Ocean Energy Development Unit as part of Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI). Operating with the support and assistance of the Marine Institute, this unit will oversee the implementation of the initiative.

Launching the initiative at the Maritime College in Cork, Minister Ryan said; “I have articulated my intention that Ireland become a world leader in renewable energy. Last week, I published an authoritative study proving that this is possible. Today, I begin this programme of change with the delivery of a major initiative on ocean energy.
“We have unparalleled ocean resources in Ireland. The aim behind this R&D funding is to enable Ireland to win the race of developing a full-scale, commercially viable ocean energy device for generating electricity.”
This programme supports research, applied research and grants for commercialisation. The feed-in-tariff price offers a guaranteed return to producers for electricity they produce from ocean energy. The Ocean Energy Development Unit in SEI will have a central role in overseeing this Programme. This is an integrated system offering support from the initial stages right through to sale.
Commenting on the programme the Minister said, “Ireland now has the most sophisticated state support system for ocean energy in the world. The Government is supporting start-up research through to the commercial production of electricity from the ocean. We then guarantee a price for this electricity that is one of the most competitive in the world.”
The 2005 Bacon/ESBI study calculated that 1,900 jobs would be created by 2020 if Ireland invested in ocean energy technology. The Minister welcomed the jobs likely to be created in Belmullet arising from the grid connection nearby and said this was also good news for the nearby port of Killybegs, which would be used to service the sites off shore.
“We’re investing”, the Minister said, “in order to create the jobs of the future. We are investing in order that we have clean, cheap and domestically produced energy. I believe that we can be a world leader in renewable energy. We start today with the oceans.

Further details of the new initiatives are contained below:

1. €1m will support the upgrading of equipment at the National Wave Basin Facility at the Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre at UCC with further significant support envisaged in subsequent years. The existing facility is also scheduled to move to Maritime Campus Ireland at Ringaskiddy in 2010. Such a facility will be unique in Europe and will be the first port of call for energy device developers. The establishment of this national facility will consolidate Ireland’s existing lead position in the design and testing of early stage ocean energy devices.
2. €2m will be provided to support the development of a full scale wave energy grid connected test facility at Annagh / French Point Co Mayo (Mullet Peninsula). The site has been recommended following a comprehensive site evaluation and selection report by the Marine Institute and ESB International. When fully operational it will provide developers with a guaranteed connection to the National Grid and the ability to test and sell the electricity they produce.
3. €2m will establish the Ocean Energy Prototype Fund. This fund will give developers access to facilities and provide them with state of the art equipment. The fund will be run on a competitive process and will actively encourage ocean energy device developers to move towards commercialisation of their devices.
4. Today’s announcement by Minister Ryan introduces a new category of tariff under the REFIT scheme, one for the production of electricity from new wave and tidal technologies. The Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (REFIT) Scheme is a mechanism designed to encourage the growth in electricity generated from renewable sources in Ireland by offering the suppliers of renewable energy compensation, via a Public Service Obligation, over and above what they would receive in the marketplace. Applicants in REFIT must have planning permission and a grid connection offer for their projects and they will be able to contract with any licensed electricity supplier up to the notified fixed prices. Following these negotiations suppliers can apply to the Department to receive tariff support under the REFIT scheme for ocean energy of 22 cent per Kilowatt Hour.
5. €500,000 in 2008 will provide for the establishment of an Ocean Energy Development Unit which will oversee the implementation of the Ocean Energy Initiatives (located at SEI). The unit will coordinate many diverse interest groups involved in ocean energy and focus them to achieve the objective of placing Ireland in pole position worldwide in the development of ocean energy technologies.