The EU-funded Foresea programme has approved funding for six developers of offshore renewables to deploy at the SmartBay test site in Ireland.
Foresea’s user selection board has awarded a so-called recommendation for support to demonstration projects led by Sea Power; Bluwind Power; Marine Power Systems; Blue Ocean Monitoring; UGen; and Calwave.
A final award of support is secured by the developer upon contract with the test centre in Galway Bay.
The announcement follows the granting last month of a foreshore license to SmartBay by the Irish government.
SmartBay general manager John Breslin said: “Today’s announcement marks the beginning of a new phase for the development sustainable low carbon technologies in Ireland, with a significant increase in the planned testing of a range of promising devices.
“We’re looking forward to working with developers to validate their technologies in real-sea conditions and put them on the road to market.”
Image: SmartBay (Andrew Downes)
Foresea funds SmartBay six
By EBS