SHANNON DEVELOPMENT is proposing that Shannon estuary be designated an energy zone which will become a test bed for new alternative technologies.
The proposal is contained in the regional development agency’s new strategic plan due to be published later this year.
The early details of the “Shannon energy estuary zone” are contained in Shannon Development’s submission to the Midwest Regional Authority on the authority’s new draft regional planning guidelines.
In its plan, Shannon Development states: “The concept of using the Shannon estuary as an ‘energy zone’ for research into alternative energy is an example of this approach.
“We believe that the Shannon Estuary Energy Zone could be a significant national and international location for research and development into alternative energy technologies, and provide pilot testing facilities for the commercial application of the outputs of research programmes.
“The zone would then become a research and development hotspot, a pilot plant test site, and a magnet for companies in the energy sector.”
Elsewhere in the submission, Shannon Development states that the average salary in the Shannon Free Zone is now €54,000.
The zone has been hit by a number of significant job losses in the past year with major employers, Element Six, Molex and Avocent all announcing job losses.
However, in its submission to the regional authority, Shannon Development points out that there are approximately 100 companies employing 7,100 people in the Shannon Free Zone, generating €3.5 billion in sales, 94 per cent of which are destined for export markets.
The submission goes on to state: “Approximately, 70 per cent of sales generated by Shannon Free Zone companies are in internationally traded services. Shannon Free Zone companies export to markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Japan and the Pacific Rim.”
Outlining details of the company’s master plan for the Shannon Free Zone, the submission states that the plan “includes strategies for new greenfield development, brownfield regeneration and major infrastructural expansion over the next two decades and beyond”.
It continues: “The master plan also provides a framework for environmentally sustainable approaches and achieving recognition of the Shannon Free Zone as a people-friendly environment.
“The overall objective is to position Shannon as Ireland’s premier location for modern, internationally traded manufacturing and international services.”
The agency states that its new strategic plan is aiming “to achieve the broad-based economic development of the Shannon region by realising the potential of more developed areas, while ensuring that less developed areas participate fully in the region’s economic growth”.
