1. Renewable Ocean in Ireland Produced as part of the Galway Atlantaquaria Renewable Ocean Energy Series, funded by the SFI Discover Programme 2015.

2. The Real Map of Ireland Ireland’s marine territory extends far beyond our coastline up to 220 million acres (approx. 880,000 km 2 ), an area more than 10 times our land mass

3. An all island Electricity grid One of Irelands problems is it does not have enough efficient power plants on the grid to support economic growth. A Solution to this problem is to integrate the Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland grids. This would create a Single Electricity Market(SEM) or central pool, from which companies can purchase electricity to be sold to their customers.

4. How is electricity price determined The wholesale electricity market in Ireland is operated by an organisation called SEMO, Single Electricity Market Operator. It is regulated by the Central Electricity Regulator, but the grid itself is operated by Eirgrid. Each day the grid operator issues a forecast of the amount of electricity needed at particular times The power stations submit a bid price (marginal cost) In addition, the power stations are paid annual capacity payments to enable them to cover the capital costs of building generators.

5. Renewable on the grid Certain tariffs were introduced for different forms of renewable energy called REFIT (Renewable Energy Feed in Traiff) Under REFIT the Energy Regulator annually decides on an amount of money to put into a fund to pay REFIT. Under the REFIT tariff a floor price is decided for wind energy, currently 5.7c a unit.

6. Dispatching Electricity Every day the market operator SEMO issues its projected demand for the following day and asks the generator’s to bid their marginal cost and availability for half hourly blocks. The operator then checks the wind forecast to see if wind will be on the grid. SEMO then pass this theoretically cheapest dispatch plan to EirGrid. EirGrid carry out the planned dispatch making adjustments in real time for demand. The system works flawlessly 99.995% of the time.

7. What’s wrong with the grid Fossil fuel power plants, like Moneypoint take a long time to power back up if switched off Wind Energy Sources are mostly on the west coast, but there is hardly any high energy voltage lines on the west coast a present to transfer energy to the east cost where it is needed. Energy storage is very small with pumped storage being the main concept being developed on the grid at present.

8. Ireland’s Blue Economy Ireland Blue Economy contributed an estimated €1.4bn to GDP last year (figure estimated by NUI Galway’s Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit (SEMRU) and Teagasc). It is performing (on average) better than the general economy with up to 9% growth over the last five years. With an estimated turnover of €4.5bn

9. Harnessing our Ocean Wealth - utilising our Blue Economy In 2012, the Harvesting our Ocean Wealth (HOOW)- An integrated Marine Plan for Ireland was published. In has three main goals: 1. Thriving Maritime Economy 2. Healthy Ecosystems 3. Engaging with the Sea

10. Areas for Action for HOOW Food from the Sea New types of aquaculture and marine bio-technologies Energy from the Sea Renewable energy and offshore oil and gas production Tourism and Business in Marine and Coastal Areas Such as the Wild Atlantic Way and cruise ship tourism Enterprise & Industry New marine services such as ocean yacht racing, ship design Integrated Marine Capacity and Capability

11. Marine Careers Marine Biologist Aquarist Fishing and Aquaculture Oceanography Marine Meteorologist Surveyors Offshore and Onshore Marine Engineers ROV(Engineers/ Pilot technicians ) Divers/ Diving instructors Underwater photographers Underwater Archaeologist Maritime Industry Naval Architect Marine Economist Maritime IT personnel Researchers, Education

12. Energy Careers Energy Engineers- (Bioenergy, Wind, Marine, Solar….) Data Collection/Analysts Soft ware Engineers Quantity Surveyors Environmental Engineers Lecturers/ Researchers Policy Assessors Feasibility Assessors Transport Engineers Civil Engineers Mechanical Engineers Electrical Engineers Grid Engineers Plant/ Site Operators Manufacturing Engineers Composite Engineers Chemical Analyst Nuclear Engineers….

13. Programmes to help people get involved. Marine Institute Employment and Training Programmes The National Maritime College of Ireland SMART- providing practical, bespoke, Research Vessel based training. Naval Service SmartBay Research internship Programme Masters and PhD Programmes Explorers Education Programme Infomar -Transition Year Pilot scheme Regional Marine, and Science and Technology Festivals BIM’s Science Lesson on “Managing Our Marine Resources”

14. Areas of Action for the Marine Renewables Sector Check out www. oceanenergyireland.ie for more infomation