Ireland’s University College Cork (UCC) has made an investment of €10.5m in European Union (EU) funding to boost the development of marine offshore renewable energy technologies.
Named MaRINET2, the transnational marine renewable energy project will help the industry develop offshore renewable energy technologies and infrastructure by providing access to 57 test facilities across 13 countries.
MaRINET2's coordinator Dr Jimmy Murphy said: “MaRINET is a model for success and demonstrates what we can achieve in terms of collaboration and sharing knowledge transnationally.”
This investment is the second phase of EU funding. The MaRINET2 project is coordinated by Marine and Renewable Energy Ireland (MaREI), which is the Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy at University College Cork, the national university of Ireland.
MaRINET2 comprises 39 partners, which involve research centres and organisations that work in collaboration to support offshore renewable energy technologies, such as tidal, wave, and offshore wind. Working in collaboration with major partners, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) leads the development of the emerging ocean energy industry in Ireland.
SEAI's chief executive officer (CEO) Jim Gannon said: “Ireland is truly leading internationally in the ocean energy sector and the announcement of the Irish-led MaRINET2 is a testimony to that.
“SEAI is supporting the development of excellent test facilities in Ireland and we now have the opportunity to invite international ocean energy developers to our shores to reinforce our position in the global marine renewable sector.”
SEAI offers funds to latest technologies from prototypes to full-scale devices, as well as developing test facilities, supply chains, and infrastructure required to boost the ocean energy industry.
Dr Murphy added: “By offering European-wide access to marine energy testing we ensure that the best facilities and expertise in the world are being made available to more people and that developers are saving several thousands of euros during critical development phases of their technology.”
The MaRINET2 project encourages standardisation of testing across the 39 European partners, enabling all testing to be repeatable and standardised.
Image: Professor Tony Lewis, Emeritus Beaufort Professor at University College Cork, Katie Lynch, Research Engineer, MaREI, and Dr Jimmy Murphy, Coordinator of MaRINET2. Photo: courtesy of Diane Cusack.
