Ireland and the US should become involved in joint renewable energy ventures to reduce carbon emissions affecting global warming, according to the US ambassador to Ireland, Tom C. Foley.
Braving a brisk south-westerly, the ambassador witnessed the renewable energy potential of the western seaboard yesterday when he visited several projects in Galway Bay and on the Aran islands.
Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) and the Marine Institute, which jointly hosted Mr Foley's visit, are reporting positive early results from the ocean energy test site east of Spiddal in Galway Bay.
The second in a series of wave energy buoys moored there survived wave heights of more than eight metres on New Year's Day, according to its designer, Michael Whelan, of Ocean Energy Ltd, Cobh, Co Cork. The Marine Institute believes that the west coast has the most energetic waves in the world.
Mr Foley is an economist and was previously based in Iraq, where he was charged with converting Iraqi state companies into private ownership. He said that yesterday's visit arose out of discussions with Minister for the Environment Dick Roche and Minister for Energy Noel Dempsey on the possibility of research and development partnerships in relation to renewable energy.
However, there were also options in the use of "clean coal" at Moneypoint power station, Ireland's largest single emitter of greenhouse gases, Mr Foley said.
Viewing the new Ocean Energy platform from the deck of a charter vessel, the Happy Hooker, the ambassador was briefed on its method of trapping waves inside a chamber within its hull. The wave compresses air which is forced through a turbine to create electricity. The turbine is due to be fitted when the initial tests on its ability to withstand the exposure are completed.
The prototype is a one-quarter scale model, and at full scale a similar buoy is expected to deliver up to two megawatts of electricity. A "farm" of 20 such devices could deliver sufficient power to meet the annual electricity requirements of 17,000 homes.
Mr Foley also visited wind energy projects in Inver in Connemara and on Inis Meáin on the Aran islands. He met community representatives on Inis Mór before being flown back to Inverin.
Under the Government's ocean energy strategy, the cost, reliability and efficiency of a number of wave buoy models will be tried out on the Spiddal site before deployment of a pilot of the full-scale device in 2008.
David Taylor, of SEI, believes that the market for ocean energy may be worth up to €2 billion for Ireland by 2025. Renewable energy now accounts for about 6.8 per cent of the country's gross electricity consumption, and this may rise to 30 per cent by 2020 under new Government targets.
