OES Annual Report 2012 - Ocean Energy Systems

45 04 / COUNTRY REPORTS
SOWFIA – Streamlining Ocean Wave Farms Impact Assessment – Multi-disciplinary multi- partner EU EACI
IEE project coordinated by University of Plymouth with objective to develop and improve tools and methods
for environmental and social impact assessment of wave farms. UCC is a partner and Work Package Leader.
IEC TC114 – Ireland has a mirror committee and contributes experts to TC114 development of standards
and guidelines in ocean energy
OES – Ireland contributes directly to IEA in terms of EXCO but has also been a key contributor to many of
the collaborative annexes
International Smart Ocean Graduate Education Initiative – Ireland has a graduate programme co-funded
by members of the SmartOcean group which has a mix of Irish and International entities. First round of
PhDs starting
Ireland, through HMRC, also participates in the European Energy Research Alliance research network,
EERA, and is participating in the preparation of an ERA-Net proposal, to deepen collaboration between
funding programmes in European countries for OE.
Key Statistical Information - level of public and private investment on R&D
Public expenditure on R&D in 2012 is estimated to be €2.5m
Private investment on R&D in 2012 is estimated to be €4m
TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION
New Developments
UCC Beaufort and IMERC
As mentioned in section 3.1 DCENR, IDA, PRTLI, SEAI-OEDU, DAFM, UCC and Bord Gais are funding a new
4,500 sq.m. building to house the National Ocean Test Facility. This UCC Building, designated “Beaufort
Research”, is a €16.5m cornerstone and flagship facility housed within the Irish Maritime and Energy Resource
Cluster (IMERC). IMERC is a joint venture between UCC, Cork Institute of Technology and the Irish Naval Service.
Westwave 5 MW Demonstration Project
The WestWave project aims to develop the first wave energy project in Ireland by 2015 by generating 5MW
of electricity from the plentiful wave energy resource off the west coast of Ireland. WestWave is a collaborative
project being led by ESB International (ESBI) in conjunction with a number of wave energy technology
partners including Irish technology developers Wavebob and Ocean Energy and Scottish technology
developers Aquamarine Power and Pelamis Wave Power. ESBI, with support from the Sustainable Authority
of Ireland (SEAI), is building upon previous supply chain analyses of marine energy to focus specifically upon
the requirements of the WestWave Project. Within this supply chain study the project team has assessed,
along with four leading technology developers, the requirements to deliver the WestWave project within
the timeframe required. The project is currently undergoing feasibility assessment processes involving the
European Investment Bank, the Department of communications, Energy and Natural Resources and ESBI.
This project received funding approval in December 2012 from the EU NER300 Programme.
Lease awards Northern Ireland
In 2012 2 companies were awarded rights to develop the tidal renewable energy resource in Northern
Ireland. These are:
ÌÌ
Tidal Ventures Limited for the 100 MW tidal opportunity at Torr Head: a joint venture between Open
Hydro Group, a designer and manufacturer of tidal turbines, and Bord Gáis Energy one of Ireland’s leading
energy providers.
ÌÌ
DP Marine Energy Limited with DEME Blue Energy for their 100 MW tidal stream energy project off
Fair Head: this project is a consortium comprising Cork based DP Marine Energy Limited and the Belgian
marine engineering company DEME Blue Energy.