Waiting for Ireland’s wind rush
Entrepreneurs keen to exploit the rapid growth in offshore renewable energy believe that their investment plans are being stymied by a lack of clarity from government
In James Ives’s imagination, a fleet of low-slung boats skim across the water off the east coast. Small, black, unmanned — the maritime answer to the Mars rover — they sail along pre-programmed routes, collecting data on the seabed below.
Guided remotely from control centres around the world, these uncrewed surface vessels are built and designed in Co Louth by Xocean and are in operation on offshore wind projects from Taiwan to America.
For Ives, the company’s founder and chief executive, the aim has always been to bring the technology home to Ireland. “It’s the opportunity of a generation,” he said of the country’s offshore wind targets. Yet, as for many queueing up to support the offshore wind gold rush, there is both palpable excitement
