There are 144 Irish owned companies active and solely focussed on the cleantech sector. These companies generate revenue of more than €1.4bn and export approximately 20% of their revenue.
Irish cleantech companies operate across 6 key sub-sectors including Energy Efficiency, Waste Water Treatment Solutions, Waste Material Handling Equipment, BioMass/ BioEnergy, Marine Renewables & Environmental Monitoring & Instrumental Services.
The CleanTech sector has seen significant growth in recent years with export growth of over 200% between 2005-2007. Many Irish companies have capitalised on the opportunities that have arisen from legislation and have developed novel technological offerings. These include products/service to improve recovery and recycling rates, to increase air and water quality, and to produce energy from renewable resources.
There are many stakeholders involved in CleanTech and Enterprise Ireland has built relationships with these key players. They include Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), Renewable Energy Unit in IDA Ireland, Bord Gais, SFI, Marine Institute, ESB and others. The ESB recently launched a €200 million investment fund, Novus Modus, which plans to invest over five years in businesses developing technology focused on clean energy and energy efficiency. This is part of the €22 billion capital investment programme announced by the company in 2008, €4 billion of which will be directly invested in renewable energy projects and €6.5 billion is to be spent facilitating Renewables including smart metering and smart networks.
For further details of all Irish companies providing services to the ANZ Clean Technologies Sector, please click here.