IF RECENT Atlantic storms had been fully harnessed, each kilometre of the western seaboard could have generated about €350,000 worth of wave power.
That calculation was made by the Marine Renewables Industry Association umbrella organisation for Irish and international ocean energy companies and interests.
Its spokesman Peter Coyle values each 18m wave which hit the west coast early this month at €2,000 in energy value, based on it being a kilometre wide.
Some 150 such waves in any given hour of storm could feed an ocean energy device with 25 per cent efficiency in terms of captured power.
Effectively, it means that about €350,00 of wave energy was wasted every kilometre and every hour during the storm’s height.
Met Éireann says that the storm didn’t break any records, with much higher winds during a similar February storm in 2008. Winds reached gusts of 72 knots at Belmullet, Co Mayo, on February 3rd, when 18m-high waves also hit that part of the coastline.
Bord Gáis chief executive John Mullins recently told a marine renewables forum that Ireland should not be “overreliant” on gas and should make a greater commitment to ocean energy.
Bord Gáis, which has a number of investments in the sector, has also pledged €1.5 million to the Marine Energy Research Centre in Ringaskiddy, Cork.
“Ireland has some of the best wind and wave resources on the planet and our technology in this area is world-class. We cannot waste this intellectual capital, it must be nurtured and invested in now,” Mr Mullins said, warning that Scotland was “surging ahead”.
A recent Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland study forecasted a potential 52,000 jobs in ocean energy with a net present value of more than €9 billion by 2030.
The Department of the Environment is developing a fast-tracking system of foreshore licensing which will give priority to all energy-related projects, and draft new legislation, according to the department.