Cork set to target energy investment

A HIGH-LEVEL group of industry and academic experts is being set up to position the Cork region as one of Europe’s leading centres for renewable energy research and investment.

It follows the County Mayor’s Conference 2011 in West Cork yesterday.

Titled Ireland’s Energy Opportunity: Cork’s Response, it was designed to showcase a new era of energy projects coming on-stream in Cork, and to highlight the opportunity for a strategic response from the region to the national energy agenda.

County manager Martin Riordan said the next step is to develop a coordinated plan, involving all stakeholders, to ensure everyone is working together. “The competition out there is intense, particularly from Scotland,” he said.

“Whoever does this the best, will get the business and energy investment.”

He stressed Cork’s strengths in the renewable energy sector, citing major energy producers already located in the region, as well as the high-level research and development in wind, energy and biomass energy already ongoing in places like University College Cork, the National Maritime Research Centre, and the Cork Institute of Technology.

Former county mayor, Jim Daly, who was elected to Dáil Eireann last week, hosted the event.

“Ireland’s emerging energy crisis is Cork’s opportunity with the potential to create 70,000 jobs over the next five to 10 years, provided we are prepared to take up the challenge,” he said.

However, industry experts said politicians will have to display ‘real civic leadership’ to deliver on the potential.

Planning hurdles, such as difficulties around securing foreshore licences — which are crucial to delivering renewable energy infrastructure — will have to be streamlined, they said.

The conference also heard details of the plans by the Cork Lower Harbour Energy Group — comprised of healthcare giants Centocor, DePuy, GSK and Novartis — to develop a renewable wind energy plan. Each proposes to develop a renewable energy source on-site, driving down dependence on fossil fuels.

Consumption of electricity from fossil fuel-based generation will be reduced by up to 30%. The group plans to invest up to €30 million over the course of the project and is expected to lodge a planning application next month.