AS MASSIVE WIND turbine projects are mooted off the Irish coast, Ireland must seize the opportunity to train and support the giant workforce needed to complete the projects, the head of the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) has said.
Paul Hegarty is a former Naval Service officer who commanded ships across the fleet and trained fellow officers. He has recently left his career in the Irish Defence Forces and is now head of the Cork-based college.
The National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) is part of the Munster Technological University (MTU) and based at an extensive campus in Ringaskiddy in Cork Harbour.
The facility over looks Haulbowline Island’s Naval Base and then across to the town of Cobh.
On a recent visit The Journal witnessed Naval Service recruits going through training in specialist flooding and fire-fighting training units that mimic the structures of ships. There were also civilian trainee mariners inside a number of simulators in the college – steering ships on mocked up bridges.
So advanced are the simulators that ships’ captains regularly use them to test conditions ahead of large and tricky manoeuvres or to re-enact accidents at sea to get an understanding of what caused the mishap.
In the impressive facility there is also a pool which can recreate the disorientating and life and death conditions of the Atlantic Ocean. In a demonstration of its capability we watched as massive fans, a wave machine, flashing strobes and water sprays simulated storm force gales.
The nearby Halpin Research Centre is involved in forty EU funded projects with a total value of €125 million and is particularly tasked with developing ways to ensure the robustness and security of critical maritime infrastructure.
The NMCI is a very practical institution – there are life sized mock ups of a ship’s engine room, workshops for welders and electrical engineers and even dive tanks to train divers in underwater work techniques.
As part of the Government’s climate targets, 70% of electricity needs are to be generated from renewable sources by 2030.
Seven projects have been granted permission to proceed with the first phase of each development.
Those current wind energy projects are mainly due to be located off the east coast and one is due to be placed off the west coast.
The projects are: Oriel Wind Park, the Arklow Bank II, the Bray Bank, the Kish Bank, the North Irish Sea Array, the Codling Wind park and the west coast-based Skerd Rocks project.
If that strategy is to be realised there will need to be a dramatic increase in maritime jobs and that is where Hegarty and his team at the National Maritime College comes in.
It is not the first time this website has spoken to Hegarty – on the last occasion he was the captain of the LÉ William Butler Yeats as the Army Ranger Wing (ARW), Irish Air Corps and Irish Navy practised boarding a large cargo ship in the Irish Sea off the Wexford and Wicklow coasts.
That was a proof of concept that would allow the ARW to launch the dramatic armed boarding and taking of the MV Matthew off the Cork and Waterford coast recently.
The Cobh native is mindful of the hundreds of years of seafaring history in Cork Harbour and across Ireland as the NMCI prepares to celebrate its 20 year anniversary.
He sees his role as a key enabler to bring the college into the modern era as a boom in offshore energy projects will see Ireland construct massive windfarms off the coast to meet future energy demands.
Hegarty believes that a major boom in the Irish maritime sector is coming with the growth in offshore renewables.
“We’ve more than adequate capacity to meet the national need, we can develop new courses and have commenced working with industry to develop particular courses that they might need,” he said.
The college has up to 400 full time academic students and apprentices studying for a variety of roles. These include a Bachelor of Science in marine engineering, electronic technology engineering and a BSC in nautical science.
The NMCI offers part-time Bachelor of Business and Master level programmes in Supply Chain Management through blended delivery, a profession which will be key to supporting the national supply chain required for the ORE industry.
In any given year there are also 3,500 professional maritime courses which include mariners, who work on all manner of commercial vessels like cargo, cruise and ferries ships revalidating their seagoing ticket. Hegarty said the numbers keep rising and the college is continuing to recover from the post covid slump.
The academic said that the attraction to a career at sea is prompting the increase – with modern vessels and in general good remuneration packages albeit in line with the huge responsibility for safety on board a massive ship.
“You get to see a lot of the world and experience different cultures and, and you know, that’s a career and an experience that many people get to have,” he said.
That expansion and earning potential is already being realised in the waters outside his office window. Hegarty gave one example of a local shipping company that has advanced plans to expand a facility at the former Verolme Dockyard site in Cobh to facilitate maintenance vessels for the turbines.
There are also plans to greatly expand the nearby Port of Cork container terminal.
The former naval officer believes the fact that Cork Harbour is the second biggest natural harbour behind only Sydney and the past history of shipping in the area means the local area and Ireland in general is ripe for benefiting off the growing maritime business ecosystem.
There is also a huge pharmaceutical industrial presence in the harbour with giants like Pfizer and Eli Lilly just some of those factories – Hegarty said there is a lesson in how that sector bedded in.
He said that over time Cork Harbour has become a major area for pharma production with a highly educated workforce.
“My point is there’s no reason Cork shouldn’t do the same in the maritime domain,” he said.
Hegarty said that it makes sense that there could be a profound synergy between the Maritime College and the surrounding port infrastructure.
“We have the Maritime College; we’ve got port building facilities; the second largest natural harbor in the world; we’ve got an educated workforce; we have access to the Atlantic and also the south coast of Ireland.
“But additionally, we also have Ireland’s only oil refinery, rail links and one of the State’s main power stations so we have immediate access to the grid,” he added.
Hegarty said the college is working with other interested agencies and businesses around the Harbour to explore future projects. One concept is around future fuels such as LNG, ammonia and methanol.
One of the key enablers for that mammoth construction project will be an onshore facility which caters for the specialist ships tasked with building and maintaining the infrastructure.
The College will shortly begin maritimer skills conversion courses, of nine to 12 weeks in duration, for fishing fleet captains to qualify them for working in the commercial sector.
Hegarty was keen to stress that the giant wind turbines on the surface are only part of the huge complex – there are cables which connect each unit and bring the electrical charge back to land.
“What a lot of people don’t realise is while the turbines cost a lot of money to install, it’s actually the subsurface network that is the expensive and the important piece.
“A subsurface network is the important element in the whole offshore renewable sector – it’s an important area and we’re actively pursuing is training for pilots of Remotely operated Vehicles used for doing undersea hydrographic surveys,” he said.
Hegarty said that at present Ireland does not train the highly skilled pilots who operate the remotely controlled submarines or Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) that monitor the web of cables. The college intends to begin that training.
“That then has a natural alignment with maintaining national security and feeding in to make sure that Ireland’s critical national infrastructure is secure.
“There are second and third order implications there that would benefit the country. It feeds into Ireland’s security requirements by protecting our national energy requirements,” he added.
Hegarty’s ambitions aren’t limited to the Cork site with an idea, at least, to suggest to State authorities that there should be National Marine College satellite education facilities on the east and west coast.
Hegarty believes the NMCI has the ability to provide that but that the State will need to consider providing the much needed funding.
“Ireland, is a small country, we’re more than capable of meeting the demand once the adequate resources are provided and obviously there’s a key role there for decision makers to make that so.
“This was created 20 years ago for maritime education and training in Ireland and it has come to fruition and is working, it is functioning but we’re now looking to bring that a stage further.
“Now is the time to reimagine the vision for the NMCI and prepare it for the evolution that is happening across our national maritime economy and wider international shipping industry,” he added.
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