between Ireland and the UK is of paramount
importance. This whole area is one in which we
must pick up the pace. The markets for applications
in this area are truly global”.
The prospect of the Smart Grid concept coming to
fruition in Ireland is also something that Richard
Walshe of Alternative Renewable Technologies
(ART) Generation is positive about,
“I think it will happen. I think Ireland is making
significant advances. We are well on our way to
meeting our renewables targets”.
Dr. Brian Motherway, COO, SEAI is very
enthusiastic about the prospect of the Green
International Financial Services Centre (IFSC),
“We think that it is an excellent idea to position
Ireland as a centre of green finance. We have all of
the relevant expertise already here in the current
IFSC, so re-tooling the skill-set to accommodate
the green agenda is a natural progression”.
“The export opportunities that are available for
Irish companies in the clean tech sector, particularly
with regard to ICT are not always straightforward.
The biggest day for any such company is the first
day of export. The government has a role to play
in nursing this nascent sector. Very often, when a
client in another market is considering a product,
it will want to see references from clients in their
country of origin. Green public procurement has
been introduced in Ireland in order to enable these
clean tech start ups to sell directly to our own public
sector, thus giving them a foot up the ladder. It of
course is beneficial for the public sector as well,
as it reduces our energy costs. Energy audits are
carried out on each public building, so this measure
has provided many indigenous companies with
their first customers. Changing our lighting system
to a more energy efficient one was one of the first
things that we did at SEAI – you have to practice
what you preach. Very often, the initial costs may
be greater, but the money that is saved over the long
term in terms of reduced energy bills more than
compensates. You must always take a long term view
when it comes to energy”.
“Some years ago, Ireland developed IS393; the
Irish Energy Management Standard. We only the
4th country in the world to do this, and the first in
the EU. Since then, big business has adopted the
standard, through which companies such as IBM,
Eli Lilly and Heinz made very considerable cost
savings. This standard formed the basis of the EU
standard that is currently in place and led to the
adoption of the global standard; ISO 50,000. This
demonstrates again how Ireland is an ideal place
to make sure a system or product works, before
bringing it to larger international markets”.
“Over the last 5 years, we as a country have made
tremendous progress. Driven by gains in wind,
renewable energy output has grown by 28% yearon-year. 15% of Ireland’s overall electricity usage is
now from renewables. Of course, our target is the
biggest target in the world, 40% by 2020 – so we
still have a lot of work to do. The entire Irish system
consists of 6,000 MW, so although it is a big task, it
is achievable. SEAI’s mission is to make sure
it happens”.
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