Issue 70
Good afternoon, fellow Earthling. I trust you’ve enjoyed a full week of indulging in one of the nation’s favourite pastimes, the never-ending procession of counts and eliminations at election centres around the country?
I’ll take a moment to note the contributions of Grace O’Sullivan, who has unfortunately lost her seat at the European Parliament; I only met her on a handful of occasions, but I was struck by her kindness, as well as her genuine passion for developing our shared understanding of the opportunities and challenges we face in restoring nature. I truly hope that she finds the resources and platform to continue with that mission — but for now, a well-earned rest 💚
Here’s the news round-up for Issue 70:
Some funding news to kick things off: XOCEAN, the Louth-based, all-caps provider of Uncrewed Surface Vessels, announced they have secured €30M in funding. The new capital, €20M of which is venture-debt from the European Investment Bank, will be used to fund international growth; VentureWave, Endeavor Catalyst, and Enterprise Ireland also participated in the investment round.
While in funding-the-funder news, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund announced they have allocated €125M to the new Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners II (FEIP II) fund. FEIP II will have a high-level focus on greenfield energy infrastructure; previously, FEIP I supported the development of the Silvermines pumped storage hydro project, and the MaresConnect interconnector project.
A new cross-border fund has been established to support geothermal energy research and development: the Geothermal Energy Momentum on the Island of Ireland (GEMINI), has been awarded €20M to accelerate the uptake of geothermal energy projects across a wide range of locations and applications.
Greengate Biogas, a partnership between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners Atlas Renewables, and Energex Partners, have announced plans to develop up to seven new anaerobic digestion plants in Ireland - when operational, the seven plants will consume 3.5Mt of manure annually, sourced from local livestock farmers (the livestock, presumably, rather than the farmers themselves).
And another energy infrastructure project in the news: SSE Renewables have submitted their planning application for the 800Mw Arklow Bank Wind Park 2 project - let’s hope the new turbines are less prone to lightning strikes than the current batch ⚡
Green Rebel, the Irish provider off offshore site survey services and technology, announced that two of their LiDAR buoys have been deployed in the German Bight, in a partnership with TGS, an energy data company. The buoys will be in place for the next two years, and will produce data to help with future planning of offshore energy projects.
Waterland Ireland, a private equity firm, announced the acquisition of two energy service operators in Ireland: Cador Solar, and Zetta Home Services, who provide a range of services and products including solar PV, battery, EV charging, and heat pumps, have been acquired as part of a €50m investment.
Dublin Airport Authority (daa - weirdly without any caps) are close to completing a new 9MW solar installation, which is located onsite at the airport. The project, developed by Enerpower, a Waterford-based energy developer, will fully cover the energy requirements of airfield operations, with some projected surplus for general ground operations.
And moving from solar-powered airports, to solar-powered whiskey! William Grant, the Scottish owner of the Tullamore D.E.W. Distillery, have submitted a planning application to Offaly County Council, to develop a solar farm adjacent to the existing distillery and warehousing facilities. Of my many happy memories of delivering the Accelerate Green programme, our behind-the-scenes site visit to the distillery back in 2022 was definitely a highlight / blur.
Let’s stay with the Midlands for a moment or two: The FACTORY (more caps madness!), a Birr-based sustainable design and print agency, have developed a framework (The FACTORY Method) to promote the adoption of ecological graphic design methodologies. Everything about this company is marvellous, from their 24-point sustainability Manifesto, to their exquisitely designed notebooks, so if more design agencies are inspired by their framework the better! (note that if you buy a notebook by clicking on the link above I won’t get paid a cent, but the planet will be a happier place👍)
Meanwhile, over in Tullamore, the National Parks & Wildlife Service are hosting an information event on June 20th, to promote the new Community-Led Peatlands and Natura Community Engagement scheme, which provides grants for community-led projects targeting peatland conservation and revitalisation.
Staying with community-led initiatives, TASC, the Irish think-tank for action on social change, have published a report exploring how two Waterford communities have been supported to design and develop climate solutions that would benefit the community, and address a number of the main local development priorities. Titled “The People’s Transition”, it’s an excellent exploration of participative decision-making, full of practical examples about how to create a just transition to a zero-carbon society.
And, approaching the zero-carbon transition from an entirely different angle, a team of researchers at TCD and the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG) have developed a method to capture rare earth elements using eggshell waste, which is a win for advocates of the circular economy approach.
Uisce Éireann have announced the Water Stewardship Accelerator Programme, a workshop to support the development of water stewardship skills and competencies in businesses with significant water use who are located in areas with high water demand.
On to the events list: first, TU Dublin are hosting a one-day seminar on June 18th exploring the role of higher education in addressing climate change, and leadership for pro-environmental action.
On July 18th, Teagasc will welcome attendees to Gurteen Agricultural College for the Energy and Farm Diversification Show 2024
The Rethinking Growth conference will take place in TCD on June 25/26, and brings together economists, academics, and politicians to explore how economic growth could be reimagined to better serve people and planet.
I don’t know about you, but redesigning the economy always gives me an appetite: it’s a good thing, then, that the Dublin Climate Dinner will host it’s monthly gathering on the evening on June 28, at our regular spot in Cornucopia: expect great food, great company, and great conversation.
I just missed getting this into the previous issue, but there’s still a few performances left of “We Built This City on Rock and Coal”, a near-indescribable live show mixing art, science and improvisation to get people engaged with climate action - venues and ticket information available on the website.
Plenty of advance notice on this, as Codema host the Decarbonising Dublin Summit on November 14, exploring the challenges and opportunities to reduce emissions in the capital city.
And finally, big shout-out to the team at ENSO, the Irish start-up developing ESG and Impact management software, who have recently completed their B Corp certification. The ENSO team did a fantastic job documenting their B Corp journey from start to finish, which is available as a series on their YouTube channel - well worth a look.