Renewable Energy

It has been said that Ireland’s greatest asset is its coastline. According to the study Ocean Energy in Ireland: An Ocean Strategy 2006 by the Department of the Communication, Marine and Natural Resources, Ireland’s west coast has the highest resources available to generate ocean energy in Europe.

In April 2010, plans were announced by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s (SEAI) Ocean Energy Development Unit (OEDU) to harness some of this renewable energy by developing a full-scale national wave energy test site off the coast of Mayo. This will facilitate testing the viability of new wave energy technologies in actual ocean conditions and their potential to produce sustainable electricity supplies.

If the planning permission application for this testing site is granted by Mayo County Council, it is expected that the facility would be ready to test the first wave energy machine in 2012 and would operate for fifteen years.