The Irish government has this week announced plans to tap the country's " unparalleled" potential as a source of marine energy, pledging to invest over €26m in the sector over the next three years.

Irish energy minister Eamon Ryan said that the government would also introduce a feed in tariff for wave energy that would guarantee wave energy projects a tariff of €220 per megawatt hour for the electricity they produce.

The initiative will also see €2m invested this year in developing a wave energy test site connected to the national grid, €1m ploughed into a new National Ocean Energy research facility at University College Cork and €2m in grants offered to wave energy companies seeking to commercialise their products.

"We have unparalleled ocean resources in Ireland," said Ryan. "The aim behind this R&D funding is to enable Ireland to win the race of developing a full-scale, commercially viable ocean energy device for generating electricity. "