Boost for wave power
A joint Irish-Swedish multinational company is preparing to develop a wave energy project along the Atlantic coast which could generate enough energy to power Cork city by 2020.
The new venture with Tonn Energy, which is backed by the Swedish multinational utility company Vattenfall and indigenous Irish technology firm Wavebob, is hoping to generate up to 250MWs of electricity, enough for 180,000 homes and employ around 250 people.
Planning, installation, operation and maintenance work of pre-commercial devices at the national wave-energy test site at Belmullet, Co Mayo, will now begin.
"Ireland could be to wave energy what Saudi Arabia is to oil," Wavebob chief executive Andrew Parish said yesterday.
The generating capacity would represent half of the Government's published targets for 2020.
Although Ireland is regarded as one of the best countries in the world to help develop wave power, the technology is in its infancy.
A buoy-like structure called a Wavebob, which produces the electricity, has been successfully tested and Tonn Energy hopes to begin generating commercially by 2013.
The device is 65 metres high, most of which is under water, and will be refined to develop an offshore wave energy farm that will be connected to the national grid.
Vattenfall will provide €1m, which will be used to install prototype devices at Belmullet. Energy Minister Eamon Ryan has welcomed the new development.
