Wave energy captured off the Irish coastline could supply up to 40 per cent of national demand according to the Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, who has announced details of a North/South wave energy research project worth an initial £190,000.

Dr Woods also provided more detail yesterday about a second cross-Border renewable energy project, a £200 million agreement between property investment company, Treasury Holdings, and Harland & Wolff Holdings plc, Belfast, to build offshore wind turbine farms along the Irish coast line.

"This is a significant opportunity not only to harvest the energy of our oceans and seas but also for innovative Irish companies to establish their technologies at the cutting edge of wave energy conversion," Dr Woods stated yesterday in Dublin.

The wave energy study will involve Harland & Wolff, the Marine Institute and Dublin company, duQuesne Environmental Ltd, which has developed a promising new device that converts wave power to electricity. The Belfast engineering firm will build a prototype and the Marine Institute has completed a study identifying 73 "prime" offshore sites where large numbers of the wave energy generators could be anchored.

The aim of the project, Dr Woods said, was to develop a prototype so that a pilot plant could be built and tested by the end of next year. University College, Cork, Trinity College, Dublin, and Queens University, Belfast, are providing additional research facilities and a number of Irish companies are also involved. If developed the 73 sites could produce as much as 13 per cent of the installed capacity of the ESB, Dr Woods added.

Department officials were working on guidelines for safe placement of offshore electricity generation equipment, Dr Woods said. There were few environmental impacts, however, because these devices produced no pollution and could not be seen from the shoreline.

These guidelines will be needed given the scope of the £200 million plan by Treasury Holdings and Harland & Wolff Holdings plc, also officially initiated by the Minister yesterday. The funding will be used to build offshore wind farms on platforms in deep water miles off the Irish west coast. The turbines could reach 100 metres above the waterline and will produce 1.2 megawatts each, according to Treasury Holdings, which expects to sell its electricity to the ESB.