The Government has allocated €3.5 million to three Irish marine energy firms.

The funding from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) will be used to develop and test new ocean energy technologies.

The three firms to receive funding are Ocean Energy, SeaPower and GKinetic.

Ocean Energy has secured €2.3million to design and build a full-scale version of their Ocean Energy (OE) Buoy wave energy converter which will be deployed and tested at the US Navy Wave Energy Test Site in Hawaii. This funding is being matched by €4.5million from the US Department of Energy, highlighting how Ireland is collaborating with international markets to progress ocean energy development.

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The international nature of the ocean energy sector is evident at the conference with representatives attending from US, Canada, Australia and all parts of Europe.

SEAI has been supporting the development of ocean energy in Ireland for a number of years with 65 technology projects supported to date. SeaPower will receive over €1million to test their wave energy converter at quarter scale in Galway Bay, while GKinetic Energy will receive €200,000 to conduct towing tests of their Tidal Turbine System in Limerick Docks.

(CD/MH)