{"id":421921,"date":"2026-04-28T16:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T16:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/421921\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T16:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T16:58:13","slug":"cavan-publican-aims-to-run-premises-using-power-harnessed-from-river-in-world-first-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/421921\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavan publican aims to run premises using power harnessed from river, in world first \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Co Cavan<\/a> pub is to seek planning permission to use a world-first technology that would allow the premises run on power from the river outside its front door. <\/p>\n

The technology is a small, floating turbine designed by Limerick<\/a> firm GKinetic. <\/p>\n

It operates similar to the turbines used in major hydroelectricity plants, but these units \u2013 or pods \u2013 are just a couple of metres wide and can work in less than a metre of water. <\/p>\n

They are not fixed to the riverbed, so they can be lifted and repositioned easily. They also have sensors that tell them to move out of the way to let unexpected debris, boats or other objects pass by. <\/p>\n

Fergus Murphy of Murph\u2019s Gastro Pub in Butlers Bridge, Co Cavan, said he was hopeful they would be the answer to soaring electricity bills. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are experiencing higher and higher energy bills and more uncertainty about our future energy security. Meanwhile, we\u2019re watching energy literally flowing past us out the window,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

According to GKinetic\u2019s tests, the Annalee River should give Murph\u2019s at least 70,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually.<\/p>\n

That is around 15 times what the average Irish household uses, so it would meet a lot of the pub\u2019s electricity needs. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe technology Murphy\u2019s Gastro Pub in Co Cavan hopes to avail of involves a small, floating turbine designed by Limerick firm GKinetic <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll produce electricity 24-7, year-round, but September to April would be the most productive time because there\u2019s more rain and the river flow is greater,\u201d said R\u00f3is\u00edn McCormack, co-founder of GKinetic. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s perfect because that\u2019s when you\u2019re putting on the heating and you need it most. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be a fantastic match with solar because those are the months when solar panels produce less.\u201d <\/p>\n

Depending on how wide a river is, an array of linked pods could be installed. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0The cost of running a home in Ireland: from one cup of tea to a 10-minute showerOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

While acknowledging that the Butlers Bridge site will have to prove itself, McCormack has high hopes for the technology. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf successful, the implications for the 3,000-plus pubs and riverside businesses in Ireland to replicate this solution are huge,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur biggest blockage at the moment is regulation. Because our technology hasn\u2019t been done before, we don\u2019t fit in any box in the planning regulations so we\u2019re having to go through the process to see where we might hit issues.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"RóisínR\u00f3is\u00edn McCormack of GKinetic, Fergus Murphy of Murph’s Gastro Pub and Gary Brennan of GKinetic <\/p>\n

Murph\u2019s Gastro Pub has rights to the river to halfway across, while St Aidan\u2019s Church has the rights on the other side. In similar cases, agreement with neighbours would be needed if a pod had an impact on an opposite bank. <\/p>\n

A community information session was held in the village to explain the project and McCormack said the reaction was very positive. <\/p>\n

She said if the pub project gets approval, it would be closely monitored and communications kept open with local people to ensure no negative impacts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Co Cavan pub is to seek planning permission to use a world-first technology that would allow the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,184644,184645,184646,61,60,153534,184647,184648],"class_list":["post-421921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-commercial-photographer-in-dublin","tag-dublin-base-photographer","tag-food-photographer-in-dublin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-landscape-photography","tag-potrait-photographer-in-dublin","tag-still-life-photographer-in-dublin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}