AN IRISH coastal town has been identified as a potential site for a £200 million (€223 million) energy storage plant.
The proposed facility would generate environmentally friendly electricity at lower costs, and could provide 200 jobs in the construction and engineering sectors.
The plant, proposed by renewables and energy storage company Gaelectric, for Larne, Co Antrim, would firstly deploy compressed air, generated by wind, in an underground geological storage vessel.
The air would then be used to drive turbines, generating electricity for release during peak demand.
According to Gaelectric, the unique geology at Larne makes it a potentially ideal location for the development of a Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) facility. The salt deposits in the area’s underground caverns, dating from the Triassic period, would be used to house the energy storage vessels. There are only two similar plants worldwide.
Keith McGrane, head of offshore energy and energy storage at Gaelectric, said the facility could make Northern Ireland a worldwide leader in the field of renewable power generation from wind.
He explained: “When clean renewable energy from wind is combined with CAES, we can capture the energy which is generated at night, which would otherwise be lost, and optimise the operation of existing plants by smoothing the variability impacts of wind.”
Mr McGrane also stressed the environmental benefits of CAES, which he said were among “its most valuable attributes”.
“Emissions from CAES are about one third of conventional fossil fuel generation plants.”
A further advantage would be ensuring stability of electricity supply and prices.
Mr McGrane said: “CAES provides a proven method of balancing the intermittency of wind energy, ensuring that energy is delivering to consumers when they need it, whilst improving the operational efficiency of the system as a whole.”
Prof Neil Hewitt, professor of energy and director of the centre for sustainable technologies at the University of Ulster, welcomed the announcement.
“Gaelectric are to be commended for their innovative, large scale approach,” he said.
Gaelectric proposed Larne for the site after extensive surveying all over Ireland. It is now awaiting a mineral prospecting licence from the North’s Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to allow further investigation of the suitability of the area. If approved, Gaelectric predicts the plant will be operational by 2016.