AN IRISH wave energy company has secured the backing of one of northern Europe's leading electricity providers, Vattenfall AB of Sweden, to research and develop a commercial wave farm on the western seaboard.
Mayo's Mullet peninsula is expected to be the location for the full-scale wave energy generator, currently being developed by Wavebob Ltd of Maynooth, Co Kildare, with a target date of 2010.
Wavebob is one of two companies which have being testing wave energy prototypes at a site leased to the Marine Institute off Spiddal, Co Galway. Vattenfall AB is a Swedish state-owned energy provider which has developed an international reputation for addressing the climate change issue.
Named after the Swedish word for "waterfall", Vattenfall runs coal and gas-fired power stations in Sweden, Germany and Poland, nuclear power stations in Sweden and Germany, and also draws on hydroelectric power, mainly in northern Sweden.
The multinational company's president, Lars Joseffson, has advocated "global power sharing" in a presentation last year to the United Nations, and has outlined his views on the threat of climate change in a book entitled The Future in our Hands.
The Swedish company says it aims to reduce its own CO2 emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 through various initiatives, including wave energy technology. Its representatives participated in an energy forum involving Government and industry leaders in Dublin yesterday.
Wavebob Ltd, which was founded in 1999 by William Dick, is not revealing the value of the research and development contract. However, it says that it is Vattenfall's first commercial partnership in wave energy outside Sweden.
Andrew Parish, chief executive of Wavebob, says that at full scale, each of its generators will be capable of producing over a megawatt, which is described as enough electricity for over 700 homes.
Mr Parish said that the Government's ocean energy programme and the recent announcement of a guaranteed price for wave energy by Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan had a "very positive influence" on the Wavebob/Vattenfall deal.
"Vattenfall's record on championing the causes of global emissions reduction and innovation in alternative energy is second to none," Mr Parish said. "Access to its expertise will also provide Wavebob Ltd with considerable technical know-how, which increases the pace of our development."
The northeastern Atlantic has some of Europe's most energetic waves, and Lars Strömberg, Vattenfall's vice-president of research and development, said that Ireland's coastline held "enormous potential" for the development of "environmentally friendly wave farms".