Marine Renewables Industry Association (MRIA), an organization supporting the development of Irish marine renewables, has issued a discussion paper on maritime infrastructure development priorities to support Ireland’s future ocean energy industry.
Ireland’s wave energy resource is off the west coast. It should be possible to support the development of the resource, at least at the southern end of the west coast, from Shannon Foynes and Cork. Beyond a certain level of deployment, the much smaller ports to the north of County Clare would struggle to cope with developments off Mayo – the most likely ocean energy location in the north-west – in particular.
The Paper analyses the issue, draws conclusions and makes recommendations about a challenge which must be tackled if ocean energy is to develop at scale from around 2030, a short time away in the notoriously long investment cycle times in energy and in maritime infrastructure.
The Marine Renewables Industry Association recommends, in summary, that:
The full paper can be read here .
Source: Marine Renewables Industry Association; Image: Aquamarine Power (Illustration)