Wave project could supply substantial power by 2020

Wave project could supply substantial power by 2020
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan (centre) with Goran Dandanell (left), head of business development at Vattenfall, and Harvey Applebee, project director at Tonn Energy.
Photograph: Bryan O'BrienIn this section »
A welcome development long overdue for bank sectorRyan warns Aer Lingus over carbon disclosureBermuda firm relocates to IrelandWarner Chilcott: company historyAnglo staff updated on job cuts planTax institute says further hikes will discourage enterpriseRONAN McGREEVYA WAVE-energy project launched yesterday could supply enough energy to power the equivalent of the city of Cork by 2020, it has been claimed.

Tonn (the Irish word for wave) Energy, which is backed by Swedish multinational utility company Vattenfall and indigenous Irish technology firm Wavebob, is looking to develop a wave-energy project along Ireland’s Atlantic coast which could generate 250MWs of electricity, enough for 180,000 homes. It would also employ about 250 people.

Ireland is regarded as one of the best countries in the world for the development of wave power, but the technology to harness such energy is in its infancy. The first commercial wave farm was only opened in Portugal last year.

The technology, which will be trialled in the coming years, will consist of a giant buoy-like structure, 65m high and 20m in diameter, known as a Wavebob. Costing €2 million each, they will generate electricity for the equivalent of 350 houses.

A scale model of the structure has already been trialled successfully off Spiddle, Co Galway.

Tonn Energy hopes to start pre-commercial trials of the full-sized Wavebob by 2013, with commercial electricity available by 2015.

If successful, the Tonn Energy project would account for half of the Government’s target of 500MWs of electricity from wave power by 2020.

The Government has set a target that 40 per cent of Ireland’s electricity will be generated by renewables by 2020.

Tonn Energy project director Harvey Applebee said wave power could “quite easily” fulfil all of Ireland’s heat and electricity needs when sea conditions are right, but the technology, particularly the grid, would have to be developed.

“There are vast quantities of potential energy because we have so much sea. We are in the super league of wave energy. We have the whole west of Ireland,” he said.

Vattenfall is to provide the initial investment of €1 million, which will be used to begin testing at the national wave-energy test site off Belmullet, Co Mayo, which has some of Ireland’s best waves. The project will also be supported by Sustainable Energy Ireland.

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, said Ireland could surpass the achievements of Denmark, a country which generates a quarter of all its electricity needs from wind power.

“The involvement of Vattenfall gives us huge credibility that these devices will work. If wave energy is available, the potential for us to become an energy exporter becomes much more feasible,” he said.

“The Government has set a very clear timeline and planning horizon. If full-scale devices are capable of surviving the very harsh marine conditions out there, there is nothing to stop us generating huge amounts of electricity.”

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times