Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Queen’s to host EU green energy research centre
£8.9m sunk into tidal power study
THE EU is to spend £8.9 million on researching renewable energy in Britain and Ireland.
The work will focus on the use of tidal power at Strangford Lough and the North Antrim Coast as well as ocean energy sites in Western Scotland and the potential for wave and tidal power generation in Donegal in the Republic.
A virtual centre of competence at Queen’s University,
Belfast, will host cross-border studies into bio and marinebased power, the European funding organisation said.
Gina Mcintyre, chief executive officer of the Special EU Programmes Body, said: “The region has a low level of industryrelevant innovation within the renewable energy sector.
“The Bryden Centre project will help address this issue by creating a new centre of competence made up of dedicated PHD students creating high-quality research with strong commercial potential.” Working with a number of cross-border partners including the University of Highlands and Islands, Letterkenny Institute of Technology and Ulster University, the project will create the largest amount of research in this area to date.
It will recruit 34 doctoral students and six post-doctoral research associates. The EU is contributing more than £8.3million, while matchfunding for the project has been provided by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in Ireland and the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland.
It will also focus on bio-energy — heat, biogas and electricity — produced through the anaerobic digestion of agri-food waste.
Findings are intended to benefit small businesses aiming to become more innovative within the renewable energy sector.