*A design of the gas reserve in Cahercon.
CAHERCON’s gas reserve will have environmental concerns “at the forefront of any decision made” on whether it gets planning approval, the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment has said while also revealing that the Government intend to decommision and sell on the floating facility in the future.
Ireland’s new strategic gas emergency reservice (SGER) in Cahercon is to create 300 jobs, a sixth of which will become full-time posts. The gas reserve will be delivered in the form of a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU), which will be owned and operated on behalf of the State by Gas Networks Ireland.
Fourteen coastal sites were considered nationally with Cahercon making the final two where it was selected ahead of Cork Harbour last November. The Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve is a State-led project that will provide a temporary natural gas facility that can be used in the event of a disruption to Ireland’s gas supplies.
Speaking in Ardnacrusha at an Electrifying Ireland event, Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Darragh O’Brien (FF) revealed that the Government intend to decommission and sell on the floating gas reserve in the future. “Environmental concerns will be at the forefront of any decision made with regards to the specific planning. The site has been selected, we are doing it from an energy security perspective for the country, it was a risk identified that we don’t have a gas reserve, we do have an oil reserve in this country, it is not about bringing additional gas into our system, this would be used in extremes.
“All EU and domestic environmental considerations and screenings will be done as a normal process, there has been a broad welcome for it, there are some with genuine health concerns and some who don’t want to see a plant and I don’t agree with that at all, we have to be able to mitigate a risk that is there as we’re accelerating renewables across the system, we’re doing fifty percent of our electricity by renewables and we want to get off gas, this is not about bringing extra gas in, it is about having that gas reserve on a temporary basis, that is why it is a floating gas reserve so it can be decommissioned and sold on in the future and that is what we intend to do”.
Claims from Futureproof Clare in March of this year that the Cahercon gas reserve could become a target for a terrorist attack were rejected by the Minister. “Any energy facility or any major State facility, one could say that there would be security apparatus around it. We’re debating this legislation now, this was identified in independent reports on Ireland’s energy security (The Energy Security 2030 Report), I couldn’t ignore it. If something happens our interconnector between Ireland and Scotland in relation to our gas, within five to ten days we would not be able to manage or operate things like our hospitals, it is not just an energy issue, we only use twenty percent of our own gas domestically, the rest is imported. We’ve doubled our renewable capacity in ten years, we’re going to continue to accelerate that, for the medium term we’re going to need a baseload of gas, the facility is not about adding to that, it will only be used in extremes, it is not about purchasing additional gas or anything like a LNG, it is about having a reserve like we have an oil reserve, we have oil reserves in this country which served us well during recent difficulties, it is something we need to do and it is appropriate to do it”.
On concerns that the Cahercon gas reserve could result in the importing of fracked gas to Ireland, Minister O’Brien stated, “We’re putting the cart ahead of the horse, we haven’t even built it and it hasn’t even been consented, it is a significant national project in a good location. The type of gas that would be purchased would be a matter for GNR, it will be State owned, State led and State operated, our gas networks teams would be the ones deciding on the criteria on any future gas purchase. Even with a fair wind, you’re looking at this facility at the end of 2030 so we’re way off looking at where the gas will be imported from and what type of gas that is”.
An Coimisiún Pleanála will be responsible for judging the environmental concerns of the project before recommendations are made to the Minister, he said. “This will be a strategic asset for the State, it is critical to our energy security, all environmental considerations right down to the site selection, a number of sites were looked at and Cahercon was deemed to be independently the best site for that, people will have a chance to have their say, I would say broadly it has been welcomed and I know from talking to people in Clare in the main it is seen as a major investment, it will be done and built to the highest of standards, it is not like it is the first of these facilities ever built, there’s many of them all over Europe, we need to get ahead and do it”.
