The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has awarded government funding of almost €20m to 49 projects supporting and enabling a wide range of energy research in the country, including one examining end-of-life wind turbines.
The three-year WindLEDeRR project will develop a comprehensive decision-making tool for end-of-life turbines in Ireland, examining lifetime extension, anomaly detection, fatigue assessment, repurposing and sustainable decommissioning.
It is led by University College Dublin in partnership with Trinity College Dublin, National University of Ireland Galway, University College Cork, Munster Technological University and Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions.
SEAI is providing funding of €628,265 for this project.
The other projects bring together leading academic institutes, industry partners, and not-for-profits to tackle areas in Ireland’s national efforts to transition to a low carbon society.
SEAI said there was a significant increase in national demand for energy research funding in 2021 with 56% more applications compared to the most recent call in 2019, proving it an extremely competitive call.
The 2021 SEAI National Energy Research, Development & Demonstration Call also involves co-funding partnerships with the Department of Transport and Geological Survey Ireland.
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan (pictured) said: “Developing solutions that will deliver cleaner energy for our homes, businesses and communities, this highly competitive National Energy Research, Development and Demonstration funding call is leading the energy transition in Ireland.
“With such diverse areas as green hydrogen, robotics for wind farm maintenance, biofuels and technologies for increasing energy efficiency in buildings, this investment sees Ireland’s researchers take exciting steps forward in our national efforts to meet our binding climate targets.”