Marine Renewable Energy sources in Ireland comprise offshore wind, tidal stream and wave energy. Ireland currently has an annual electricity usage of 34 TW.hrs, and possesses large amounts of each type of renewable energy resource, with estimated accessible annual resources of 65 TW.hrs of offshore wind energy, 2.4 TW.hrs of tidal stream energy and 20 TW.hrs of wave energy.

Major ocean energy farms (up to 100MW each) are currently being planned in Scotland, France and Northern Ireland, with tidal stream energy likely to be the first technology to be commercialised and installed as arrays of devices. The European Union has established an Ocean Energy Forum to accelerate the development of the sector, aimed at answering the twin problems of energy security and global warming. The industry-led Ocean Energy Europe organisation has estimated that up to 100GW of ocean energy could be generated in Europe by 2050.

The Irish Government published its Ocean Renewable Energy Development Plan (OREDP) earlier this year which concluded that 1,500 MW of wave and tidal generation projects could be developed without significant adverse effect on the marine environment, and has provided initial market supports for the sector. As part of this development, the ESB has received EU NER 300 funding to develop its 5MW WestWave project in Co. Clare by 2018.
This talk will be webcast, details are available on the Engineers Ireland Website under Events.