SEAI Sustainable Energy Awards Winners 2022

Huge congratulations to the ORE group in MaREI at UCC for winning the Excellence in Energy Research and Innovation category and to Corca Dhuibhne for taking home the award in the Inspirational Energy Community category. 

The Offshore Renewable Energy Group, in the MaREI research centre at University College Cork, coordinated a Horizon 2020 project, MaRINET2, over 5 years.  The MaRINET2 project comprised 53 facilities across Europe. These facilities test marine energy devices and include test tanks, wind tunnels, field test sites, component test facilities, and other cross-cutting research facilities. This project has supported collaboration and shared learnings to strengthen the marine renewable energy industry. This is a crucial enabler to decarbonising the global economy. If they win the award, the bursary will go towards a significant conference open to the public to showcase the excellent work coming out of this project. Another action they envision is to formalise the educational programme which they piloted in Ireland and Portugal.  

Corca Dhuibhne Sustainable Energy Community (SEC), established in 2018, is part of the collaborative Dingle Peninsula 2030 initiative. They actively collaborate with the local community, including schools, business, transport, farming and tourism sectors. Their goal is to enable broader societal changes and foster a sustainable low-carbon transition. The Dingle Hub is working to identify employment opportunities and develop a sustainable economic future for the area.

Through engaged research with MaREI, they are tracking, analysing and publishing experiential learnings. This is to help inform policy and practice, both locally and nationally. So far engagement events have reached up to 2,000 people from all sectors of society. Activities include an Anaerobic Digester Feasibility Study, audio training material, home trial on solar PV, battery management, heat pumps and electric vehicles. This project illustrates how collaboration can support and enable active community responses.