Researchers at NUI Galway’s Ryan Institute are involved in a major €14 million European initiative to develop the potential of algae as a source of sustainable energy. As a partner in the project, NUI Galway is responsible for the initial step of producing some of the biomass required for conversion to biofuel. This will be accomplished by cultivating macroalgae (seaweed) biomass at sea in a one-hectare pilot facility.

Currently, algal bioenergy technologies are immature, but rapid advances are being made in the field. NUI Galway’s part of the ‘EnAlgae’ project is valued at almost €1.2 million, over the next four years. The project will focus on the cultivation of some of Ireland’s native kelp species (large brown seaweeds, commonly seen cast up on the beach after a storm). Growth of the seaweed crop occurs in two phases, the first phase of which is being carried out at the Ryan Institute’s Carna Research Station in County Galway.

Dr Maeve Edwards, a research scientist at the Ryan Institute’s Carna facility, explains: “In our facilities here, microscopic stages of the algae are cultured and sprayed onto ropes. Once the seaweed has been ‘seeded’ onto hundreds of metres of rope, they are deployed at sea in the one-hectare experimental plot in Ventry Harbour, County Kerry.”

Seaweed will also be cultivated in Northern Ireland (by Queen’s University Belfast) and Brittany, France (by Centre d’Etude et de Valorisation des Algues, CEVA). NUI Galway will coordinate the cultivation efforts between all three institutions.

The four-year transnational Energetic Algae – or EnAlgae – project, led by Swansea University in Wales, is a strategic initiative funded by the INTERREG IVB North West Europe Programme via the European Regional Development Fund, together with a range of co-sponsors.

EnAlgae involves 19 Partners and 13 Observers across eight EU member states, and aims to reduce CO2 emissions and dependency on unsustainable energy sources, through the accelerated development and deployment of algal-based biomass and bioenergy technologies.

The Western Development Commission has launched the RASLRES project, which seeks to promote the production of biomass in the West of Ireland.

RASLRES (Regional Approaches to Stimulation Local Renewable Energy Solutions) is a Eur3 million multi-national European bio-energy project funded by the Northern Periphery Programme which seeks to build awareness of opportunities for rural communities to produce and supply locally produced biomass (wood, seaweed and energy crops) to towns and cities.

The RASLRES project will address current barriers to market growth including low levels of market confidence, insufficient market information and limited technical and business skills, and actively tackle the issues at regional and local level.

WDC research has shown that the West of Ireland could develop an indigenous, sustainable, renewable energy resource delivering 11% of the region’s heat needs by 2020. Such growth will require over 470,000 tonnes of wood fuel per year and would also mean an additional Eur15 million per annum to the economy and create up to 900 additional jobs in rural areas. It has the potential to provide Eur1.7 million each year to the West’s farming sector.

The jobs created would be spread across the entire supply chain and result in additional activity to the benefit of private forest owners, forest contractors, haulage companies, plumbers, engineers, electrical companies etc.

While some of the other countries involved in the RASLRES programme are pursuing various renewable energy areas, the WDC is focusing on the wood energy sector.

“This exciting project aims to provide business development support to rural biomass communities and will aid development of biomass supply chains through direct business and community engagement,” says Minister for Defence Tony Killeen TD, who launched the project: “The project has the potential to bring nearly Eur1 million funding to Ireland’s Western Region over its three year lifetime and support over 50 companies.”

RASLRES is an international partnership which includes:
* Western Development Commission – Ireland,

* Action Renewables – Northern Ireland, UK,

* Environmental Research Institute, North Highland College – Scotland,

* Municipality of Norsjo – Sweden,

* Oceanrainforest Ltd – Faroe Islands,

* VTT, Technical Research Centre – Finland.