Preparing for the third wave of ocean energy: Reflections on the state of the art in wave and tidal power in Ireland
Discussion in Ireland had recently been heavily focused on fixed wind installations and more recently on floating wind installation. There is a third set of ocean energy technology developers, focused on wind and tidal power who have been active in Ireland for a number of years. Ireland is well positioned to lead this third wave of ocean energy devices, and this event will focus on the experience of three companies operating in Ireland, and how they have overcome a wide variety of engineering challenges.
Three speakers will present on the engineering and innovation challenges that have been their companies’ recent focus. The speakers include:
Prof. Tony Lewis is Chief Technology Officer with Irish company Ocean Energy, a wave technology development company and developers of the OE Buoy, a floating oscillating water column device. Tony is the Beaufort Emeritus Professor at the SFI funded Marine and Renewable Energy Ireland (MaREI) centre at University College Cork. He has long been associated with ocean energy development in Ireland and is a globally recognised expert in the field. He was the recipient of Ocean Energy Europe’s Vi Maris award in 2023.
Dr. Paul Brewster, Chartered Engineer, is a founder of Belfast based Pure Marine Gen which provides strategic consulting for the energy, transport and maritime sectors, and technology development for wave power, desalination and ocean observation. The company successful competed in the US Dept. of Energy Wave Energy Price competition which has led to the development of the DUO wave energy device.
Patrick Cronin is Director of European Operations at ORPC, the developer of tidal and river-based energy systems. A Mechanical Engineering graduate of DIT, Patrick is the ORPC Principal Investigator in the EU funded CRIMSON projects which with Irish, Italian and German partners is focused utilising novel materials and advance manufacturing processes to enable the generation of power from kinetic energy in rivers and tidal currents.
The speakers will be introduced by John Evans, Chartered Engineer, who is Director of Assessment, Research and Data at the newly established Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, who will chair a question-and-answer session following the presentations.