Bord Gais Energy is to invest €2 million in OpenHydro, an Irish tidal renewable energy firm, in a joint venture to develop a large-scale tidal farm off the coast of Ireland.
Bord Gais, a gas supply company, will start with an investment of €1 million and provide another €1 million on achievement of certain development milestones.
Dublin-based OpenHydro designs and manufactures marine turbines to generate renewable energy from tidal streams. The company has raised €15.4 million over the past year from existing shareholders and new investors, and is valued at around €150 million.
A potential site has not yet been selected, and a permit still needs to be acquired from the government. Any farm would be at least a decade away.
Commenting on the announcement, James Ives, chief executive at OpenHydro said: “We are delighted to have secured this investment from Bord Gáis Energy and to have established this exciting new joint venture focused on the development of Ireland’s first utility scale tidal farm. The additional funds will be used to support OpenHydro’s continued expansion in turbine production and deployment capability.
“We very much look forward to working with Bord Gáis Energy as a key partner in the development of our business and in delivering tidal energy to Irish homes.”
John Mullins, chief executive officer at Bord Gáis, said: “This investment—and the formation of the joint venture to develop utility scale tidal generating capacity off the coast of Ireland—will support our ambition to achieve early mover advantage in tidal energy development in this country. We are delighted at the opportunity to work with OpenHydro, which is an industry leader in this technology, and to be at the fore front of the development of marine renewables.”
OpenHydro agreed last year to co-develop a 200 MW tidal farm off the northern coast of Scotland and is also looking at projects in the US, Canada, France and the Channel Islands. It was the first company to generate electricity from tidal streams in the UK and then transfer the energy on to the national grid.
It has been estimated that Irish wave energy resource could generate more than 6,000 MW of power—the equivalent of the nation’s peak electricity demand. The tidal energy resource is considerably smaller but could still supply six per cent of the nation’s energy, based on 2010 consumption figures.
The Irish government has a target to bring 500 MW of ocean power (wave and tidal) online by 2020.
