Wave and tidal energy is still at the research, development and deployment stage globally and is not yet commercially viable. Ireland’s 2020 legally binding target under the Renewable Energy Directive has to be met across the transport, heating and electricity sectors by 2020. The target is set at 16% of all energy consumed to be from renewable sources, with a minimum of 10% in the transport sector. Ireland has set out that we intend to meet the target through 40% renewable electricity, 10% renewable transport and 12% renewable heating by 2020, which together amounts to 16% of all energy consumed. At the end of 2012, 6.4% of all energy consumed was from renewable sources, hence a significant increase is required in the 8 years remaining.
Wave and tidal energy has the potential to contribute to our renewable electricity target by 2020, provided the technologies become commercially viable in the period to 2020. Our National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) includes 75MW of ocean energy contributing to our 2020 target out of an estimated total of 4000MW required to deliver 40% renewable electricity. This is based on the assumption that by 2020 some early pre-commercial wave and tidal devices will be connected and exporting power to the electricity grid.
A range of supports have been deployed since 2009 in support of wave and tidal development. The Ocean Energy Development Unit in the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has been taking forward the development of the sector through administration of a Prototype Development Fund of grants for industry. SEAI has also been progressing the development of a full scale grid connected wave test site off County Mayo, which would complement existing wave testing facilities i.e. the wave tank in Cork and the quarter scale wave testing site in Galway Bay.
The cumulative amount of expenditure on Ocean Energy in the period 2009 – 2013, including the estimated 2013 allocation, is €19.159m. Other supports for the sector include the development of the Beaufort Laboratory as part of the IMERC facility in Cork, which will see a re-housing of the wave tank facility and will bring together researchers in the area currently based in the Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre (HMRC) and the Coastal and Marine Research Centre (CMRC), as part of a broader campus approach with the Naval College, UCC and Cork Institute of Technology, aimed at maximising on marine industrial opportunities.
Research in the ocean energy area is ongoing in most universities across the country and ocean energy was recently identified as 1 of 14 priority research areas by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in their Research Prioritisation Exercise. SEAI has been allocated funding for ocean energy by my Department this year and will be continuing to offer grants under the Prototype Development Fund in 2013 and to progress development of the grid connected wave test site off County Mayo.
