An Irish firm, Ocean Energy, has signed an agreement with a US multinational company that could give employment to thousands of Irish people, according to Ireland’s state broadcaster RTE.

Ocean Energy designs turbines that convert wave power into electricity. The firm’s CEO, John McCarthy, told RTE that the deal with the US firm, Dresser-Rand, would develop wave energy in Ireland. Both the companies would make turbines, and this, in turn, would boost jobs.

Dresser Rand has a market capitalization of $2.5billion. The firm stated that harnessing even 5 percent of the planet’s wave power could fulfil a quarter of the world’s electricity needs.