Clean Technology

Ireland has some unique factors in its favour which make it a particularly sound investment in the clean technology sector. These include the following -

• The Irish Government has a strong commitment to reaching a range of very ambitious renewable energy targets. For instance Ireland plans to have 40% of all electricity generated from renewable sources by 2020.
   
• Ireland has some of the best wind and wave resources in the world. This not only makes these ambitious renewable energy targets possible, it also makes Ireland an ideal research and test bed location and makes it a significant market for these renewable technologies in its own right. In addition, it makes Ireland an ideal location for the research and development of technologies and systems that can allow very high levels of intermittent energy sources, such as wind and wave, on a conventional grid system or as part of a smart grid.
   
• Many of the high technology sectors in Ireland already have a strong presence such as Information Communication Technologies, Bio Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, all of which also have strong commonalities with the technologies and skills underlying some of the key new clean technology sector. These include silicon based solar technologies, electronic/computer components and software, a wide range of biological processes needed for next generation bio-fuels and waste treatment systems and very high/medical grade precision engineering technologies and skills.

In addition Ireland has put in place a range of initiatives to:

• Provide strong and wide ranging set of incentives for the domestic and business sectors of the economy to adopt new energy efficient/renewable energy technologies and advanced waste management systems, This includes grant support, feed in tariffs and taxation measures.

• Make available strong public funding to build up research capabilities, skills, institutions and infrastructure in key areas such as wave energy research.

• Develop a streamlined and effective administrative/planning process for implementing test programmes in emerging technologies such as wave energy and the installation of large scale renewable energy and energy efficiency facilities such as wind turbines and CHP/Tri Generation installations