Invest NI Homes in on Energy Market

Tracy Meharg
Invest NI

Northern Ireland is perfectly placed, and well qualified, to take advantage of the major growth in the manufacturing marketplace by servicing the renewable energy sector.

That’s the firm view of Tracy Meharg, one of Invest NI’s four-strong team of Managing Directors, who is responsible for leading the agency’s strategy to attract more renewable companies to come here and to encourage home-grown industry growth.

“There are huge market opportunities in the renewable space,” says Tracy, “and we’re determined to take advantage of those opportunities while promoting Northern Ireland’s clear advantages as a region. The scale of the potential market is staggering. In the UK alone, it is being valued in the order of £100 billion by 2020.”

The Invest NI strategy got a major boost recently when Belfast Port and Danish firm Dong Energy (one of the leading energy groups in Europe) signed a letter of intent for the establishment of a plant which would pre-assemble sea-based wind turbines and their mammoth foundations.

Meharg reckons that Northern Ireland can compete in the four key areas of bio-energy, offshore energy, manufacturing technologies and energy storage.

“From an initial base of 95 companies in the sector, we’re now working with more than 400 local companies to support their pursuit of business opportunities.

“And we’ve also developed a foreign direct investment strategy for the renewables sector, which spotlights our key strengths which include first-class port facilities, the availability of land, a strong engineering heritage, excellent research & development, a skilled workforce, low operating costs and a Government commitment to developing the renewables sector.

“What’s more, we have the natural resources in terms of wind, wave and tidal capacity.”

Northern Ireland is already something of a pioneer in the field. The region has the world’s first and largest grid-connected tidal energy device, SEAGEN in Strangford Lough, a project which has helped to attract global attention to what is being achieved here.

Belfast Port, with its 150 acres of development land and 24-hour deep water shipping channel, is another major advantage, as evidenced by Dong Energy’s decision to locate here.

Over the next 20 years it is expected that 11,000 new offshore wind turbines will be build in UK and Irish territorial waters at a cost of £100 billion. And almost a quarter of the planned turbines will be located within 150 nautical miles of Belfast.

“Invest NI has supported a range of projects across technologies including wind energy, solar thermal, biomass and energy efficiency. Since January 2009, we have supported 29 R&D projects in the renewables sector,” adds Tracy Meharg.

“We’ve also funded two R&D marine energy projects for Minesto and Pure Marine through the Carbon Trust, and Queen’s University for a carbon capture and storage project.

“Another exciting initiative is the collaborative proposal from industry to establish a Renewable Energy Centre of Competence. It would work in partnership with the Questor Centre at Queen’s and the Centre for Sustainable Technologies at the University of Ulster.”

Longer-established local companies have also been able to shift focus to take advantage of the fast-growing renewables sector.

The most visible example is Harland & Wolff. The former shipbuilder is now a leader in the renewables sector. It recently won two significant contracts to build two offshore sub-station platforms for Siemens which will be located in a wind farm off the North Wales coast, and another to build a prototype tidal turbine for a company based on the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. Another example is local construction group McLaughlin & Harvey, which has carved a niche for itself in the renewable engineering field.

“There are plenty of others,” says Tracy Meharg, “ranging from leading edge companies like Kingspan Renewables through to Balcas in Co. Fermanagh, a company which powers its manufacturing plant with by-products from its own processes.”

“What’s important,” she adds, “is that we continue to play to our strengths.”

“As an agency, we’re trying to galvanise local interest in renewables and to help innovative and entrepreneurial companies to take real steps towards competing for market share.

“There are huge opportunities for Northern Ireland to develop technologies and capabilities to exploit indigenous expertise, attract foreign direct investors seeking a base for market entry into Europe, and develop strong export markets for local companies.

“Our expertise and experience in engineering and composites offers readily transferable skills to the renewables sector, and we’re also working with the FE Colleges and others to ensure that the relevant skill sets are in place to meet the sectors growth.

“The bottom line is that the global scale of the market opportunity is potentially larger than any other sector we can offer.

“The danger is that other economies are racing to take advantage of this rapid growth. Our inherent strengths in engineering and innovation, our flexibility, our port infrastructure and our natural resources can position Northern Ireland as a 21st Century renewables centre, moving us from ‘shipbuilder to the world’ to a ‘renewables hub for the world’.