Supplying and securing energy is a much higher priority for parties in 2010 than in 2005. Energy is mostly devolved but heavily influenced by external factors.

Waste-to-energy generation, using the discards of agriculture and food processing, is highlighted by the DUP. Wind, tidal and geothermal sources are also favoured. The party backs a 40 per cent renewable energy target but this should not “significantly increase” electricity bills. Stronger interconnection is supported, alongside extending the gas network.

Mechanical-biological waste treatment and anaerobic digestion with CHP is Sinn Féin’s preferred waste-to-energy solution. Nuclear is rejected; wind, wave, biomass and solar are favourites.

Full devolution of energy is demanded by the SDLP, which would promote micro- generation in rural areas. A single all-island energy regulator is proposed, as are social tariffs to assist older and disabled people. The party would work with Dublin and Edinburgh to develop tidal and wave technology.

Conservatives and Unionists recognise that Northern Ireland’s location makes energy security and price “pressing issues”. They support a local Green New Deal and plans to create a gas storage facility off the local coast. Nuclear power would be developed but with no public subsidy.

Alliance’s Green New Deal involves incentivising energy efficiency through lower rates and taxes, support for renewable heat and an EU-wide renewable energy ‘super-grid’.

Wind, wave, biomass and solar energy are the Greens’ priorities, alongside safe nuclear decommissioning. The TUV favours wind, solar, hydro and nuclear – but mistakenly also labels the latter source as renewable.

Reversing spending on roads and making a determined focus on the alternatives is the way to green the province’s transport, John Barry suggests.

With the impact of the Icelandic volcanic ash grounding most flights in Europe likely to live long in our collective memories, it is perhaps appropriate to focus our attention on transportation and mobility within Northern Ireland.

The Executive estimated that the disruption cost Northern Ireland around 120,000 passengers and cost the local tourist industry around £1 million a day. To state the obvious, transportation and mobility are therefore vital in modern society. But clearly as well as the obviously economic (and social) aspects of transport and travel, there is a need to find transportation options that are less dependent on imported fossil fuel and reduce our carbon and ecological footprint. To state the obvious, we need sustainable forms of transportation and mobility.

We face a steep learning curve. Northern Ireland is one of the most car-dependent parts of Europe. Currently some 65 per cent of journeys made are less than five miles – a clear example of our unsustainable (and unhealthy) mobility choices. The recent Regional Development Committee inquiry into sustainable transport offers a useful point of departure and indication as to where the debate about sustainable transport is in Northern Ireland.

Before outlining some of the submissions to that inquiry some basic facts about current transport policy must be considered. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ report, ‘Bridging the Gap’, highlighted the lack of investment in public transport in Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK and Ireland. Yet the agreed transport budget, as part of the agreed Executive Investment Strategy for the next 10 years breaks down as follows: £725 million for public transport and £3 billion for roads and cars.

The charity Sustrans for example identified the following items as key parts of any sustainable transport policy:

• Encouraging people to change their travel behaviour by supporting people to travel more sustainably, and giving every child and young person the knowledge, skills and confidence to establish the habit of travel by foot and bike early in life;

• Creating safe, attractive walking and cycling conditions by investing in walking and cycling networks in rural and urban areas, and redesigning streets to reduce traffic speeds in built up areas to 20mph or less;

• Increasing public transport usage by improving, integrating services and reducing fares by introducing a national travel card, and providing more demand-responsive transport services to people living in rural and urban areas so that they can choose to travel sustainably.

The Institute of Public Health made the point that what was needed for a sustainable transport system was one which encouraged rather than discouraged walking and cycling, since growing car dependency has been a cause of growing obesity and related health problems. In a similar health- related vein, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the UK strongly recommends that transport planners should “ensure pedestrians, cyclists and users of other modes of transport that involve physical activity are given the highest priority when developing or maintaining streets and roads which can be achieved by widening pavements and introducing more cycle lanes”. So, sustainable transport has economic, social, environmental, land- use, planning and health impacts and therefore needs a holistic, integrated rather than a single-focus approach, such as only looking at the transport issue from an economic perspective.

A sustainable transport system for Northern Ireland therefore seems to include a determined ‘modal shift’ from car dependency to greater use of public transport, walking and cycling. Here, the imbalance between the spending on roads and non-roads is not encouraging; a sustainable transportation strategy would effectively require those figures to be reversed. Will Belfast, for example, follow the example of Dublin and its phenomenally successful bike rental scheme?

In conclusion a shift from car dependency would generate economic advantages at a time of recession (according to the PwC report), obviously reduce health problems and also reduce our carbon and environmental footprint. That’s a win-win- win: if the department puts non-car mobility on an equal footing – to use an appropriate phrase.

Dr John Barry is a reader at the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast.

Crude oil was pumped from the ground in China over 2,000 years ago, used by native Indians as medicine and war paint, and first extracted from under the sea with drilling apparatus in 1955. Since then, the production and consumption of oil has risen to such a level that the main oil producing countries, governments, energy watchdogs and scientists are locked in a debate as to when oil production will peak, and subsequently, when it will run out.

There are two schools of thought. The first believes that a peak and decline are not far away, and warns that we are facing further economic problems and a lack of energy sources. In contrast, others argue that oil production will be sufficient to meet global demand well into the

21st century. They suppose that rising oil prices will stimulate exploration, discovery and the development of ‘non- conventional’ resources such as oil sands, which are abundant in Canada and Venezuela. This is proving correct as new exploration initiatives are underway.

The UK Energy Research Centre’s paper, ‘Global Oil Depletion: An assessment of the evidence for a near-term peak in global oil production’, states: “Most governments exhibit little concern about oil depletion, several oil companies have been publicly dismissive and the majority of energy analysts remain sceptical. But beginning in 2003, a combination of strong demand growth, rising prices, declining production in key regions and ominous warnings from market analysts

has increased concerns about oil security.” It continues that the global economic recession has brought oil prices down from their record high of July 2008 and warns that “there is a growing consensus that the age of cheap oil is coming to an end.”

Crude oil prices have risen dramatically over the years, from $15 per barrel in the mid-1980s to the high of $140 per barrel in July 2008. A barrel currently costs around $84 (£55). Increased prices have been driven by rising global demand from China and India, political instability, the war in Iraq, and a more assertive Russia.

Duty

Such developments are translated onto the forecourts of our filling stations because the marketplace forces of supply and demand directly determine the price of fuel. In addition, Alistair Darling’s fuel duty has seen a rise of one pence per litre (to be followed by another one pence rise in October and a further 0.76 pence in January 2011), and has increased the national average fuel price to 119 pence. Locally, this has risen to over 120 pence per litre (see graph).

Aodhan O’Donnell, Head of Transport at the Northern Ireland Consumer Council, criticised the rise, saying: “Fuel duty and tax account for almost 70 per cent of the cost of petrol and diesel. The Government is not helping consumers by increasing duty at this time.”

In response a Labour spokeswoman said: “Petrol prices have increased recently, that is why the Chancellor decided at the Budget not to go ahead with the full increase planned and to stagger it over a longer period.”

She highlighted Darling’s statement, where he said that staging the price increases “will ease the pressure on businesses and family incomes at a time when other prices are increasing. By the time the full rise comes in, at the beginning of next year, I am forecasting inflation to be back below 2 per cent.”

Exploration

New exploration programmes have begun in a bid to find more oil and gas. A small British company has begun drilling in the Falklands basin angering neighboring Argentina. And, in a move away from previous US energy policy, President Obama has allowed off-shore drilling for oil and gas in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in 20 years in a bid to reduce US dependence on imports. Russia, which supplies approximately 12 per cent of the world’s oil, increased crude production in March to 10.12 million barrels a day. However, it now faces a threat from Poland, where oil companies are currently setting up rigs to extract the vast reserves of unconventional ‘shale gas’ which are trapped deep inside rock formations. As Poland currently imports 72 per cent of its gas, this development will weaken Russia’s grip on European energy supplies.

Conflict

It has long been recognised that oil is related to conflict. The Global Policy Forum (an independent UN policy watchdog) states: “Petroleum producing countries are plagued by corrupt[ion].

Foreign powers and their huge multinational oil companies often manoeuvre for control of the oil fields through clandestine operations or outright military intervention.”

Indeed, many major conflicts have been attributed in some way to oil, including Pearl Harbor, the Gulf War, the invasion of Iraq, and Russia’s war with Georgia.

The world’s oil is generally controlled by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which includes the largest suppliers: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Iran. The organisation was in the headlines in March for failing to create stricter output quotas in order to reserve what some commentators see as depleted oil reserves. Instead, suppliers were told to stick to their 2008 quotas of 24.845 million barrels per day because oil prices are at OPEC’s preferred price ($70-$80 per barrel) and they expect demand to recover this year.

Experts predict that the cost of fuel will continue to rise as the economy recovers, more oil exploration gets underway and government policy focuses on cutting carbon and substituting oil as the primary fuel source. This can already be seen in the Republic where the carbon tax has resulted in motorists having to pay almost five cents more per litre for fuel since last December.

Last year renewable energy projects in Ireland and the UK received over €1 billion funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and throughout the continent, the bank spent 33 per cent of its €14 billion budget on energy. According to Jean-Christophe Chaline, the renewables sector is “where we expect most growth in 2010.”

The EU policy directive on renewable energy states that the 27 member states must reach a collective 20 per cent share of energy from renewable sources by 2020. This equates to 15 per cent for the UK and 16 per cent for Ireland.

Since 2005 the EIB has spent over €22 billion in the UK, of which just over €4 billion was spent on energy. The bank has pledged to provide £700 million over the next three years for new on-shore wind projects in the UK costing between £20 and 100 million. Projects currently include six wind farms in Scotland and various structures which are currently at financial closure or construction stages in the rest of the UK.

In Ireland ongoing EIB-funded projects include: the Aghada Gas Fired Power Station in County Cork; the €300 million Eirgrid East-West Interconnector (a 260km partly undersea cable, which will carry 500MW between Dublin and Wales); and a €200 million portfolio of wind farms that ESB is putting together over the next three years. In addition, the bank lent €300 million to Dublin Airport for its new terminal.

On-shore wind farms are the EIB’s main areas of financing, along with solar, hydro, geo-thermal and photovoltaics.

Chaline cites his interest in the Eirgrid East-West interconnector which is “the biggest energy project we financed” in Ireland to date.

Criteria

Chaline explained that the EIB has three types of finance operation for onshore wind projects. Direct loans to corporate banks are used for large scale programmes covering several wind-farm schemes over a period of three to four years at a minimum investment cost of €400 million. A project/structured finance facility is used for projects with a higher risk profile, costing a minimum of €100 to €150 million (such as the Alto Minho Parques Eólicos windfarm in Portugal.) And, intermediated loans take place when the EIB work through partner banks on small and medium sized projects with investment of €50 to €100 million, where the lending decision lies with partner banks.

Before funding is considered a project must meet at least one of EIB’s objectives on sustainable, competitive and secure energy. It must be technically sound, with a minimum of one year of valid on-site wind measurements (if it is a wind project). A reasonable timeframe between construction and start of commercial operation is required and planning consent and a firm grid connection offer must be in place. Projects must be financially viable and show an acceptable economic return, comply with environmental protection and procurement regulations, and the borrower must have the capacity for loan repayment and not pose a risk to the EIB.

Depending on the complexity of the project and the availability of information, developers can expect a four to six month time-frame where their request is initially checked for compliance to the EIB’s eligibility criteria. It then goes through economic, financial, technical, environmental and social staff teams before it is passed on to the management committee. From there, the request goes to the lawyers who formulate a contract negotiation. Finally, the project is presented to the board of directors for loan approval.

Going forward, Chaline predicts solar energy will rise in popularity in countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Germany and also foresees “increased demand in the areas of housing, transportation and smart metering” in the next two years.

Stephanie Hüber is a member of Task 28, a project run by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to educate the public in appreciating the benefits of wind energy despite the perceived negative visual and environmental effect of wind turbines.

The most common opinion she encounters is: “Renewable energy yes, but not in my back-yard”, where people support wind energy but do not want wind turbines near their homes, in scenic areas, or anywhere where there is a risk of birds being killed or injured.

Speaking at the Energy Ireland renewable energy summit in January, Hüber revealed that in addition to concerns about birds, Task 28 has gathered comments and concerns about the threat that turbines pose for bats and bees.

Sometimes referred to as “soft issues”, environmental and societal matters have become pivotal to the deployment of wind energy in many countries, Hüber contends.

“Even where the economics of wind energy are favourable, deployment can only occur when the public and the planning authorities accept the technology. This requires an appreciation of the benefits of wind energy that weigh against any local visual and environmental effects.”

She continued: “The evaluation of the balance [between the benefits of wind-

farms and their perceived disadvantages] is often complicated by its subjective nature and by the circulation of misinformation.”

Communities taking part in the research have also voiced their opposition to wind- farms because they may spoil their views; make noise; pose health risks by being too close to dwellings; ruin agricultural land; or drive away tourism.

Hüber stated that despite seeing You Tube videos of eagles crashing into turbines, such stories are mainly “myths that need to be de-bunked.” Task 28 believes that in order for wind-farm projects to succeed, the planners and developers need to communicate effectively with local communities.

“Developers have a key role to play in talking to people and informing them because it’s them who want to set up the wind-farms,” Hüber continued.

“You can avoid misunderstandings if you think of things in advance. Personal attitudes enhance annoyance therefore people need to be educated as to the benefits of wind energy.”

Hüber and Task 28 suggest that one solution to the problem would be if local communities are given ownership of wind-farms.

“When people all over the country take ownership, tourists might come to see the turbines. A sense of community could be

created and ideas for new projects can be established,” she claimed.

In addition, the public should receive more education on the benefits of wind- farms through universities and schools. Jobs could be created in the area of maintenance.

Hüber pointed to Japan where a major bird dispute took place 10 years ago. In response, Japan introduced ‘citizen wind power’ whereby ordinary citizens raised $18 million for 10 projects and their names were inscribed on wind-turbines or they received a certificate. Feedback in Japan showed that people didn’t mind investing in a socially responsible project and that they wanted to stop global warming whilst claiming ownership of the wind-farms.

IEA Wind – which sponsors Task 28 and other tasks aimed at cooperative research into issues affecting wind energy – consists of 10 European countries (including Ireland and the UK), as well as the USA and Japan. Expert planners, engineers, sociologists and psychologists are involved in Task 28.

The group are in the process of establishing an international forum of exchange; creating an on-line library; translating results from sociologists into the language of policy-makers, engineers and planners; and establishing strategies and communication activities to improve the image of wind-farms.

Older G-rated boilers will be replaced with A-rated ones.

Perhaps one of the few headline grabbers the early stages of planning, it is Those people who are classed as fuel-

in the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report in December was the introduction of the boiler scrappage scheme.

Limited to England only, it has been down to the devolved UK regions to decide whether to run similar schemes.

£400 was made available to the first 125,000 householders who registered for the support, from 18 January. That sum is to be used to help pay for a boiler upgrade for residents who currently use a G-rated boiler. That figure has already been reached and the scheme is now closed to new applicants.

Both Wales and Scotland moved quickly to establish their own schemes.

From 1 April, those aged over 60 in Wales have been able to avail of vouchers worth £500 to replace their old boilers with newer ones. A £2.5 million fund has been put on the table and Housing Minister Jane Davidson said that around 5,000 households would benefit.

The SNP’s budget, set out in February, was passed in Holyrood and included a £2 million boiler scrappage scheme for Scotland. It is anticipated that Scotland’s increase in funding through the Barnett formula would be used to pay for it. Still in

understood that the Scottish scheme will mimic that which is in place in England.

The same criticism has been levelled at all the schemes – none are aimed primarily at helping those in fuel poverty, but rather operate on a first-come first-served basis.

On 8 March, Simon Hamilton proposed a motion calling on Margaret Ritchie to consider introducing a scrappage scheme here. By his own admission, the Chair of the Social Development Committee was not wedded to any particular model.

The property consultants Savills’ report into social housing in Northern Ireland (see page 24) said that 14,000 homes did not reach the decent homes standard; 11,000 of those failed because of inefficient heating systems.

Sinn Féin’s Fra McCann, however, warned the chamber that he had been advised that companies had “superinflated prices” on the new boilers. One England-based customer, for example, had been quoted £5,012 from an energy company. Together with the government grant, and an extra £400 mark down by the company itself, the customer would still be charged £4,200.

poor, he contended, would not be able to afford the change and suggested that any scheme should be handled through the warm homes scheme. That would, he said, target the most vulnerable and would not one which would only be open to those with the financial capability.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change confirmed to agendaNi that any carry-over from England to here would mean that Housing Executive tenants would not be eligible to avail of the scheme as it only applies if the resident owns the boiler.

Another problem DUP MLA David Hilditch foresaw was that anybody over the age of 60 would be eligible for the scheme, regardless of whether their boiler works or not and warned that people with working boilers could exploit the scheme.

During the debate Margaret Ritchie confirmed that should her department introduce a scheme, it will target the more vulnerable households and “will not focus solely on reducing carbon emissions”. It is anticipated that a scrappage scheme could form part of the forthcoming revised fuel poverty strategy.

Defined as spending more than 10 per cent of a household income on heating the home, fuel poverty has moved up the agenda as more and more households have been left out in the cold.

The levers for dealing with the problem are spread out throughout the Executive. DETI has overall responsibility for energy, DSD is the welfare department and takes the lead in dealing with fuel poverty and the Housing Executive – a DSD agency – has the lead in promoting energy

efficiency for social housing.

Income, energy prices and energy efficiency all play a part in making people fuel-poor so it is perhaps unsurprising that the number of homes in fuel poverty is estimated to have increased by around 50 per cent since the last strategy was published in 2004.

‘Ending fuel poverty’ committed government to the ambitious target of ending fuel poverty in vulnerable houses and all social rented stock by this year

and for the rest of the population by 2016.

At that time 61 per cent of Housing Executive properties were fuel-poor, while those properties which were owner- occupied returned 24 per cent.

There were also worries for the private rented sector, where 48 per cent of stock was deemed to be in fuel poverty. By far the social groupings most at risk of becoming fuel-poor were the 18 to 24s (57 per cent) and those over 75 (54 per cent).

The most recent official figures on fuel poverty come from the 2006 Housing Condition Survey. It showed that around one in three (34 per cent) households were stricken in that year although with the rise in fuel prices and more people joining the dole queue, it is expected though not officially confirmed, that half of all homes here are currently in fuel poverty.

The Housing Executive’s 2009 survey has been completed but the preliminary findings only show levels of unfitness and have not yet been used to calculate the fuel poverty level.

In May 2008, MP Jo Swinson asked the then-Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks for the average household fuel costs per year of all the UK regions. The figures given by the Minister, recorded in 2006, showed that Northern Ireland spent by far the most on bills, with £1,211.10, compared to North East England, which spent the least, £750.60.

While residents of London spent £751.70 each year, that amounted to only 2.2 per cent of disposable income. In Northern Ireland that figure was 4.9 per cent.

In income terms, students are most likely to be fuel-poor but that statistic doesn’t fit the trend given that many students living away from home are supported in part by their parents. Outside that figure, people who are unemployed and those “looking after the family” are the next most likely.

The method of heating also plays a part. Those people who rely on solid fuels tend to be more fuel poor than those who heat their homes with oil or gas. Those prices, the strategy says, should be “made low and stable”.

However, since its publication, the price of crude oil has risen to over $100 per barrel – though it has decreased in recent months – with gas also experiencing a significant increase locally. Seventy-two per cent of homes in the province still use oil as the primary heating source.

Among the most vulnerable groups are the elderly, disabled people, those living with a long-term illness or a family with at least one child under 16.

There is no one specific factor which leads to the problem; the climate and lower household income in this part of the world, high energy prices and poor energy efficiency all contribute to falling into difficulties.

Locally the Consumer Council has called for a replication of the model used in Kirklees Council in Yorkshire. That

scheme, the Affordable Warmth Strategy, offers free loft and cavity wall insulation to the residents in the area.

In the last two years it has provided loft insulation for 36,134 homes and cavity wall insulation for 16,942 properties. By the Yorkshire council’s estimation, those householders have saved £200.

A DSD spokesman was keen to emphasise that fuel poverty did not solely rest at Margaret Ritchie’s door. Income and energy prices of course are out of DSD control, while its role can reasonably only be seen as one of a response team.

To date the DSD says that it has allocated £27 million to counter fuel poverty in 9,000 homes through the Warm Homes Scheme.

The winter fuel payment is paid each year to those aged over 60 (£250) and 80 (£400) while the emergency cold weather payment has been released five times between Christmas and the end of March.

Questioned on her department’s role in easing fuel poverty here, a DETI spokeswoman said its focus is on “business competitiveness”, which could

arguably lead to increased jobs and incomes in the province. However, DETI “continues to work with others on energy- related matters such as fuel poverty, on which DSD has lead responsibility.”

She said that it is working with the wider energy industry, the Utility Regulator, the Consumer Council with an aim to ease the effects of fuel poverty while the Inter- departmental Group on Fuel Poverty, which is chaired by Ritchie, meets quarterly.

Notably the department has been examining what scope there is for regulatory action in order to make tariff changes for the fuel-poor. Any introduction of ‘social tariffs’, however, would need political endorsement.

A DSD spokeswoman confirmed that the revised fuel poverty strategy is expected to be put out for consultation “soon”, complete with up-to-date statistics. It is unlikely that the target of eradicating fuel poverty by 2016 will be restated as Housing Executive evidence shows that even if all energy efficiencies were to be made, the problem would still exist.

Region	Average annual fuel bill (£)	% disposable income
England	805.00	2.9
Wales	868.20	3.7
Scotland	895.80	3.4
Northern Ireland	1,211.10	4.9
UK	826.30	3.0

Source: Hansard, 13 May 2008. Figures for 2006

Northern Ireland pioneered marine power and now stands to gain a leading place as it grows, Professor Trevor Whittaker tells Peter Cheney.

Having led the way in marine power, Northern Ireland could become the hub for making electricity from the seas, according to the head of Queen’s University’s renewable energy programme.

Professor Trevor Whittaker has been researching marine energy for 30 years and thinks the province is well-placed as the industry develops, due to its location and expertise. Whittaker is professor of coastal engineering and leads the Environmental Engineering Research Centre.

Marine energy comes in three forms: wave, tidal stream and tidal barrages. The first two are dominant while barrages, where an estuary is blocked off, are much less common.

While the world has many windswept islands, the British Isles have a distinct advantage because of their location. “They’re on the eastern seaboard of the North Atlantic and our predominant weather systems, which are the depressions, travel from the south west,” Whittaker explains. “Energy in wind which circulates around the depressions is transferred into the water in the form of waves.”

The isles benefit from a good wind velocity, a long fetch distance i.e. over which the wind blows, and depressions lasting for several days. Scotland and Ireland are naturally helped by their greater exposure to the elements.

Wave potential is also strong off the Pacific coasts of North and South America, and that ocean’s islands, as well as Australia, New Zealand and the Falklands. No seas are too extreme but generators need a stronger structure in

order to survive those conditions.

For its part, Northern Ireland is sheltered by Donegal, which of course is more northern geographically. This limits its wave energy but there is a very good climate for tidal currents running into the Irish Sea.

“The tidal resource for Ireland is on the Northern Ireland coast,” he remarks. SeaGen’s arrival in the narrows of Strangford Lough put the province on the map for that technology; the university monitors the plant’s environment impact.

Whittaker contends that Strangford is “probably the best site in the world for demonstrating and developing tidal current”. Not only does it have a good current, it is sheltered from the sea’s waves and is “very accessible” compared to other sites i.e. just a one hour drive from the nearest airport. Torr Head, near Ballycastle, and the Copeland Islands, off Donaghadee, are two other promising sites, and the County Antrim site could provide “tens of megawatts” of capacity.

Growth

Scotland is, though, ahead of Northern Ireland in wave power as it is providing more financial support to the sector: £13 million through its Wave and Tidal Energy Support Scheme and the £10 million Saltire Prize. Across the UK, £160 million has been allocated from the public purse since 1999.

Scots see marine renewables as a replacement for their decreasing North Sea oil. The country is home to the three market leaders – Pelamis, Aquamarine and WaveGen – and four prototype devices, but three of these originated in Belfast.

At Queen’s, Professor Allan Wells invented the Wells turbine in 1976. Self-rectifying, it turns in one direction and is therefore used in oscillating water columns, where water is sucked in to drive air out. An early prototype saw such a column built into a whistle buoy, which captured the power as it was bobbed up and down by waves.

Whittaker did a final year project on the turbine and was then involved more closely as the research developed. A 75KW oscillating water column was built over a rock gully in Islay, north of Rathlin, in 1991. This, the UK’s first grid- connected wave power plant, operated until 1999 and was replaced nearby by Limpet, the land-installed marine- powered energy transformer.

Built to provide 500KW, although it later produced 200KW due to its location, Limpet is still in operation and brings water into a chamber, which acts as the column. It currently tests commercial turbines.

He explains that the main problem with fixed oscillation water column systems like Limpet is that the structure, designed to survive infrequent extreme waves, is both expensive and under-used for much of the time. This led to Oyster’s development.

The technology for Oyster was developed at Queen’s from 2003 onwards and the first successful generator was installed off the Orkneys in August 2009. With a 315KW capacity, the Oyster device is operated by Aquamarine and was connected to the grid by Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond last November.

Researchers at the university are also “keeping tabs” on Ireland and its

Sea Gen’s installation, May 2008.

prospects. The Republic’s Marine Institute runs a 37 hectare testing site in Galway Bay for quarter-scale prototypes and is now planning a full-scale research station off Belmullet, on Achill Island.

Industry

“It’s potentially a huge industry but it will grow quite slowly in the initial stages,” he notes. However, Whittaker warns that it is “very dependent” on costs and alternative sources of power, including oil and its availability: “It applies to all renewables. We wouldn’t use renewables if there wasn’t a shortage of oil and there wasn’t a pollution issue.”

While fossil fuels release energy stored for millions of years, renewable sources such as marine “have to extract the energy from the environment around them in real- time.”

Locally, Queen’s marine work has been endorsed by government ministers, including Edwin Poots who has visited the lab. Looking ahead, Whittaker foresees the main benefits for Northern Ireland coming as the support industry for wave and tidal power develops. Growth areas could include servicing, consultancy, resource assessment, environmental monitoring, design and manufacturing.

“Northern Ireland has really a very important part to play in all of this because the marine renewables and wave and tidal or even offshore wind is all happening around us,” Whittaker reflects. “Not only does Northern Ireland plc have a lot of contribute to all of this but obviously the universities are in there by training the young people in coastal and marine engineering.”

He currently has 14 research students working on the technology, as well as projects undertaken by those on undergraduate and MSc courses.

Asked for the main difficulty in installing marine plants, he points to the cost. Pinning the equipment to the sea bed is expensive, with Oyster’s installation costing £3 million. The whole process needs to be made more cost-effective, down to one-sixth of that sum, without using large specialist plant.

“The message for local politicians is Northern Ireland could potentially be the hub of a lot of this development and, like Scotland, Northern Ireland has to get its act together and provide the financial support that SMEs need to come here to develop their technology.”

Over the past year the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment has been getting to grips with the energy agenda. It has become apparent that, no matter how we look at it, there is always a balance to be struck between competing priorities and agendas.

An important example is the balance between traditional technologies, such as oil and gas, for generating electricity and green technologies which are becoming increasingly important in our energy mix. The department’s Strategic Energy Framework has a target of generating 40 per cent of Northern Ireland’s electricity through green energy by 2020. This can

be generated mostly by onshore and offshore wind. However, the wind doesn’t blow all the time and, if we rely solely on wind, there will still be periods of peak demand where we will have to use traditional generating methods to full capacity to meet our electricity needs.

We also need to consider the issue of security of supply: Northern Ireland is at the end of a long gas pipeline. If anything were to happen to interrupt the supply of gas through that pipeline, it is vital that we can meet our energy needs in other ways. This can be achieved through development of our renewable resources and through improved interconnection with the Republic of Ireland and with Great Britain.

Economics

There is also a balance to be struck between established green technologies, such as wind energy, and emerging technologies such as tidal, wave and biomass. Even within the biomass field we need to consider the balance between food crops and energy crops. But green energy is not only about meeting our energy needs: there is also the potential for us to be at the forefront of developing technologies in sustainable energy.

Government support for business is set to reduce and eventually disappear by 2013 under EU state aid rules. One key area in which support will continue and increase is for projects that can demonstrate innovation and for projects requiring a high degree of research and development. It is important that we in Northern Ireland, with our proud tradition in research and engineering, grasp these opportunities.

What better way to grasp them than in the growing field of green technologies? Herein lies the potential for job creation and for exports to growing markets but we must act now; countries like Germany and Denmark are already ahead of the game.

The balance between the need to incentivise green energy production and the alternative of leaving market forces to dictate what happens is an important one. In providing incentives, it’s important that we fund projects that would not otherwise happen. It is equally important that we provide the right incentives, at the right level, to encourage entrepreneurs with long-term vision to get into the renewable energy market and develop commercial scale energy projects.

Micro-generation

It is not just about commercial scale renewable and sustainable energy projects. We must consider the balance between large scale and small scale generation. The Energy Saving Trust has estimated that by 2050 30 to 40 per cent of the UK’s electricity needs could be met through micro generation.1

With adequate incentives to drive micro- generation, and adequate investment in developing technologies, Northern Ireland could potentially meet this figure much earlier with the added benefits of being able to export technologies and provide skilled jobs in the sector. Again, however, other countries are getting ahead of us so we must act quickly.

The department ran its Reconnect programme until 2008 and recognised that this scheme created increased demand for micro-generation. However, there are currently no plans to re- introduce or replace this scheme. Householders therefore have little added incentive to consider micro-generation. There is also a sense that people are still waiting to see what new incentives will be introduced before they consider going down this route. So it seems that there is

still an expectation that something will be done to incentivise the market.

There are other things that need to be considered too, not least of these is the environmental balance between the need to have a cleaner, greener, pollution-free environment for future generations to enjoy and the environmental costs of having wind turbines, generating plants and electricity pylons dotted across our landscape.

Responsibility

There is also the question of what we as politicians decide to do in the Assembly, in Westminster and at EU level and balancing this with the ability of this small region to deliver. It is essential that we work with our partners at national and EU level to ensure we have the capacity to implement whatever energy solutions are proposed. It is also important that our government structures are appropriate for the times in which we live and for the problems and priorities that we face.

There may be a case for a Northern Ireland Department for Energy, similar to the Department of Energy and Climate Change which was recently formed in Westminster, to manage this. Neither the committee nor the Assembly has debated the matter but it would be interesting to see what direction the debate would take.

All in all it is a very challenging task. However, it is essential that we get the balance right so that we have a secure, sustainable, cost-effective energy mix which maximises our potential to become self-sufficient and even become a net exporter of energy and renewable energy technologies. It is for these reasons that the Assembly Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment is taking a keen interest in renewable energy and why we will be engaging with small and medium sized enterprises in the green energy sector to see how we can maximise the potential of our green energy industries.

The committee also intends to engage at a European level to ensure that we have the opportunity to see and learn from what is happening there, that we are aware of what Europe can do for us, and that our MEPs are aware of what they can do to help us achieve our goals.

Siemens’ energy chief Gary O’Callaghan explains the energy company’s vision for Irish electricity to Owen McQuade, pointing out how the island can practically fit into the new electricity age which has already begun.

The era of the new electricity age is dawning and Ireland must make its mark. We can “just” do enough to meet our CO2 targets, or we can go further and become a net exporter of energy, states Gary O’Callaghan. Siemens’ Head of Energy Sector sees the UK’s potential energy shortage in five years’ time as a real opportunity for Irish renewables and also predicts that telecommunications technology will eventually enable customers to control their home electricity use when they are out and about.

O’Callaghan remarks that with Siemens being a global organisation, it has a footprint “in every significant country around the world” and therefore can clearly see emerging ‘mega-trends’.

There are three significant trends effecting society today, within the Siemens world these are known as “mega-trends”. Firstly, with urbanisation, more people are moving to large cities and infrastructure is coming under more stress. This general trend is reflected nationally in the growth of Belfast and Dublin. The second is demographic change whereby people are living longer. While this is a positive development, it will put more stress on existing health services which are already under pressure. Finally, climate change presents a “very urgent need to decarbonise our environment.”

The firm has re-organised its work over the last 18 months to meet the challenges that result from these trends and energy has become a key focus for the company in Ireland. Responsibility for Northern Ireland has recently been transferred for practical reasons from the Great Britain branch of Siemens to the Irish arm.

“We want to show the people of Northern Ireland today the contribution we’re making in the Republic of Ireland and that’s the basis on which we are moving forward,” O’Callaghan states. “We want to make the contribution to the energy agenda. We want to be part of it. We want to form it, we want to shape the markets and also obviously for Siemens to promote its solutions and products and services.”

Within Ireland, there are three further trends or drivers affecting the energy sector which have been identified.

Energy security tops that list, given the island’s heavy reliance on fossil fuel imports. This was demonstrated by the dispute between Russia and the Ukraine in March 2005, which threatened Ireland’s gas supply: “This was a wake-up call and people started to realise that we do potentially have a very serious problem.”

The second driver is the CO2 energy agenda, and both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have shown responsibility and have set “very significant and serious targets” to cut carbon emissions by 2020, for which a “sharp increase” in renewable energy will be needed.

Finally, reducing cost and creating efficiency are related to the first point, particularly the cost of importing fossil fuels, the rising price of oil and gas and therefore the produced energy, and poor energy efficiency – in transmission networks as well as homes.

Innovation

“These three local trends or drivers coupled with the Siemens three megatrends, create a very significant case for doing something and there are very, very many questions that need to be answered,” he comments. The answers will have to involve new ways of generating, transmitting, distributing and using electricity, as well as finding new sources of electrical load as we move from fossil fuel based solutions to renewable energy solutions.

“Siemens, as an innovative company and as a technology leader, is taking this whole agenda and this environment very, very seriously and we’re pitching this as the new electricity age.”

The key areas which are the focus of the CO2 agenda are electricity generation, energy efficiency in buildings, transportation, heating and agriculture. It is unlikely agriculture will be able to respond to the same extent as the other areas, so to this end the other areas will have to over perform. This creates the focus on the areas of transport and heating, which will become new electrical loads in the future.

One recurring theme in our conversation was the concept of electric vehicles. Their relevance will be three-fold, in dramatically reducing the cost of motoring, cutting carbon emissions and also creating an extra source of electricity storage.

“The eCar and electrical heating become very important for Ireland in terms of leveraging their benefits against our very critical and significant, proportionately sized, agriculture industry.”

Ireland has a reputation for having the best wind resources in the world, with people in Siemens’ head office in Germany being well familiar with its “very arduous” conditions and their energy potential.

He is convinced that the island can become a market leader in renewable energy, given the example shown by Denmark in the 1980s. A massive expansion of their wind energy industry, which now employs 25,000 people, took place and it now covers the complete value chain, from sourcing materials, to manufacturing, design, production, logistics, installation, commissioning and operation.

O’Callaghan sees three main camps of thought on Irish renewables. Some see it as too “difficult, complex, costly” while the opposite view is that it is “clean, sufficient, abundant” and free from a fuel point of view.

The third approach, advocated by Siemens, is that the focus should not just be on the 2020 targets: “We should look beyond that and see renewable energy as an abundant natural resource for Ireland.”

While there are plenty of opportunities in Ireland for installation and operational maintenance in wind energy, there are not so many at this advanced stage in R&D and manufacturing. All this could change if the country made the decision to become a net exporter of electricity and therefore classify its ocean energy resources as “a natural resource to be tapped and to increase the wealth of the country”.

Opportunities abound in ocean energy with the island’s unique capacity to generate tidal and wave power. Resources off the west coast are among the richest in the world. However, there is also a “double-edged sword”; Ireland must take the initiative to develop its own industry.

“It’s there and it’s available to us but nobody else is going to develop the technology simply because no other country has the same resource or capacity as Ireland” he cautions. “We will have to show the leadership and courage to be a first mover.

“And if Ireland wants to make a decision collectively that we are going to take this natural resource – and are going to maximise it and export as much of it as we can – then we can start the value chain in ocean energy, start right at the beginning and build a massive industry around the island itself.”

This accelerated approach to developing renewables will naturally require increased interconnection with other markets but political leadership is also essential.

Politicians, he comments, tend to think within a five-year or seven-year timeframe but energy policy needs a plan for 2050, which involves the whole island and which starts now. Everything in energy policy needs to be “based or predicated” on achieving the goal of being a net exporter.

Super-grid

Strong interconnectors are needed between Northern Ireland and Scotland, between the Republic of Ireland and Wales, and the Republic of Ireland and France. On interconnection, O’Callaghan wants the island to be linked into the proposed super-grid off the North West coast of Europe, which is due to include Great Britain.

The end result would be electricity generated off Donegal, Derry, Mayo or Kerry being used by consumers in Poland, Germany and the Netherlands.

Closer to home, there is a guaranteed market in Britain between 2014 and 2025, when coal-fired plants will start to be decommissioned and nuclear will not yet be ready.

The Irish grid, though, needs to be ‘smarter’ i.e. using and transmitting electricity more efficiently and effectively: “If we’re generating energy off the coast of Derry and it’s going to be used in Waterford or in Wexford or in London, then the grid needs to be intelligent enough to know it’s got a generating capacity in Derry and it’s got a load in London. Homes and eCars will need to know when and how much renewable energy is being generated. This is all part of the smart grid concept where intelligent systems and applications will maximise our efficiency in the use of electrical energy. A smarter grid would also find and fix faults more effectively, as well as reducing wastage and loss.”

At a domestic level, this means a lot more than using a smart meter. Indeed, that device could act as a catalyst for new applications and technology. People could go about their day’s work with an iPhone and use an app to switch on their washing machine or water heater at home; it could also check how much electricity is being consumed in the house.

“We’re going to get a stage, I believe, in the future when most of what we do in our home will be based around the internet,” he says.

This approach would also allow customers to look for cheaper rates and thus choose their preferred suppliers more easily. Again, the eCar has a part to play in the smart grid concept as the same common user interface will be used on the internet, at home, on the iPhone and in-vehicle.

“We will start to embrace electricity as being the new fuel of the future and we will start to make it part of our day-to-day behaviours, day-to-day dialogue. It will become more and more part of our everyday lives and we will embrace it as being the new electricity age.”

Profile: Gary O’Callaghan

Born in Dublin, where his father worked in computing, he joined ESB as an apprentice electrician after leaving school. Having studied City & Guilds Electronics and Communications part-time he was offered a job with a computer company in Dublin. He worked there from 1981 to 1986, when he moved into service management.

The portfolio started to take on communications products and he moved into sales in 1989. In 1992, Gary joined Siemens and worked in enterprise communications, selling solutions and applications to Irish enterprise until 2004.

In that year, he was asked to take a look at embryonic business of energy, power transmission and distribution, which was then turning over about £3 million per year. Four years later, turnover was up to £35 million. Siemens decided to bring its Power Transmission and Distribution division and its Power Generation division together and grouped them as one ‘Energy Sector’.

“I was there when the revolution happened in communications and now I’m seeing the same thing happening in energy,” he quips. “This is going to be an amazing time for everyone, and the journey is just beginning”. Married to Fiona with three children, he plays golf and is currently studying for a Masters in Leadership Excellence at the University of Ulster.