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Displaying items by tag: wind potential

Off the west coast of Ireland, wind energy awaiting to be harnessed could be akin to the past discovery under the sea bed of crude oil and natural gas.

As the Connacht Tribune reports, the Port of Galway is an ideal location to act as a focal point for these projects.

That was the view of Port of Galway Chief Executive Officer, Conor O’Dowd, when a presentation was made to city councillors at a meeting on Monday, outlining the potential for the harbour in the years ahead.

According to the CEO wind speeds off the north-west coast of Ireland, were the best in Europe and the UK with Galway as a base ideally situated to capitalise on this form of natural energy.

Click here for more on the west coast port city from where in April, the Taoiseach endorsed plans for the state's first energy hub.  

Published in Galway Harbour

About Commander Bill King, Solo Circumnavigator

William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.

Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.

At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.

After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.

Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.

The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.