This article is from page 13 of the 2007-10-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
CLARE is in line to become com- pletely self-sufficient for energy in less than a decade through the con- struction of a state-of-the-art wave energy system off the county’s west coast.
An area of water some 15 miles off Spanish Point has been earmarked by the Irish Marine Institute as an ideal location for the creation of the world’s first full-scale wave energy testing centre.
The institute will next month choose from three shortlisted sites for the test centre, with locations off the Kerry and Mayo coast also in the running.
A Galway-based company is likely to be the first to put its technology to the test in the centre and has already expressed an interest in developing a 200-megawatt wave farm off the Clare coast.
Wavebob is one of just 90 wave en- ergy companies worldwide, and one of just three who have managed to produced electricity in large-scale eet hS
“There is a recognition out there that Clare has huge potential in Ire- land for wave energy. Clare is a very attractive area, not just because of the waves, but also because of the strong erid connection at Moneypoint,” said
Andrew Parish of Wavebob.
‘The ESB have also said that they have an interest in developing a wave energy facility off the Clare coast.”
The construction of a Wavebob farm off the Clare coast would pro- duce up to 200 megawatts of energy, or roughly twice the domestic annual energy required for the county.
Moneypoint currently produces some 900 megawatts of electricity annually. However, the Government has committed to producing 75 meg- awatts before 2012, and 500 mega- watts before 2020 from wave energy, with Clare likely to produce a large proportion of this.
“Even if the Marine Institute de- cide to go elsewhere for the test cen- tre, private companies like ourselves will be looking very closely at the undoubted potential that Clare has for wave energy,” continued Mr Par- 0
“Any farm in Clare would be locat- ed roughly on the horizon, so people will be barely able to see them, if at all. At worst they would look like a fishing boat at the very tip of the ho- rizon.
“As well as this, Wavebobs have no impact at all on surfing. Unlike other facilities, like the Wave Dragons in Cornwall, the Wavebobs are much smaller and won’t impact on the waves at all.”