Rainbow Rare Earths Phalaborwa project shaping up to be one of the lowest cost producers globally. Watch the video here.
However, the government remains opposed to the controversial project as it believes it is not aligned with Ireland’s climate ambitions.
“The recent policy statement announced by the Minister for Climate, Environment and Communications, Eamon Ryan, and approved by government, makes it crystal clear that it would not be appropriate to permit or proceed with the development of any LNG terminals in Ireland, including the Shannon LNG project, pending the review of the security of energy supply of Ireland’s electricity and natural gas systems,” a spokeswoman for the Department of Climate said.
“The government has made it clear that it does not support the importation of fracked gas and will not support any projects that import fracked gas. The government’s policy statement [on LNG terminals] has been communicated to An Bord Pleanála who are required to take it into account under section 34 of the Planning and Development Act.”
The announcement from New Fortress Energy comes at a tricky time for the government. As recently reported by the Business Post, there is growing pressure on Ireland’s current fleet of energy infrastructure.
The number of “system alerts” warning of a shortage of electricity and possible blackouts has risen substantially in the past year.
The increase in the number of these alerts is due to the rise in demand from data centres, outages at two major gas plants, the retirement of old fossil fuel power stations and the increasing volume of variable renewables on the grid.
As a result, the ESB has had to restart all three coal-fired generators at Moneypoint at certain times, resulting in a 15 per cent rise in carbon emissions from the sector at the beginning of the year.
Minister Ryan recently told the Dáil that the emerging power supply gap was one of the “highest risk” and “most important issues” facing the government.
An analysis carried out by the MaREI renewable energy centre in University College Cork estimates that Ireland needs to add up to 400MW of gas-fired energy capacity to the national grid over the coming years to facilitate the scaling up of the renewable energy sector to meet the government’s stated aim of having 70 per cent of the country’s energy needs derived from renewable sources.
New Fortress Energy is seizing on the energy capacity pressures facing the country as part of its planning application.
“The proposed [Shannon LNG] development will provide a major energy infrastructure asset that addresses Ireland’s looming shortfall in stable electricity generation and overcomes the issue of energy isolation. By doing so it will support the transition to 70 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2030,” Sam Abdalla, vice-president of project development with New Fortress Energy, said.
Despite the need to build new gas-fired energy capacity and the growing requirement to import gas, the Department of Climate remains uncomfortable about the prospect of the Shannon LNG project going ah
Hi all,
This article would suggest it doesn't bode well for the New Horizon proposal on the Shannon Estuary due to environmental concerns from the government, in contrast to the Mag Mell project we are miles ahead in every aspect especially if in our proposal we can guarantee offshore power generation coupled to ccs (gas to wire) which has been skirted around in various rns but never stated equivocally.
Also a negative comment towards New Horizons proposal at the very end by Paul Deane, the same chap who valued PRDs LNG ambitions at £28Bn over 10 years.
https://www.businesspost.ie/climate-environment/us-firm-to-reapply-for-planning-for-shannon-lng-terminal-545da07d
It would not be appropriate for a US energy infrastructure developer to push ahead with its plans to build a €650 million liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal along the Shannon estuary, the government has said.
On Tuesday last week, Shannon LNG, a subsidiary of New Fortress Energy, announced it would submit a new planning application to develop a large scale LNG terminal and power plant on a 600-acre site near Tarbert, Co Kerry.
The Business Post understands the firm will formally submit its application by the end of the summer.
A previous planning application made by New Fortress Energy to develop the Shannon LNG terminal was overturned by the High Court last year following objections by environmental campaigners.
The announcement to submit a fresh planning application follows a recent decision by An Bord Pleanála to earmark the Shannon project as a “strategic infrastructure development”, meaning it will be fast-tracked through the planning process.
New Fortress Energy said that if approved the first phase of the development would include a 600 megawatt (MW) gas-fired power plant sitting alongside a storage terminal for LNG. The power plant will also include a 120 MW ultra-fast battery storage facility to store power from renewable sources.
The LNG terminal will import natural gas that has been cooled to -160 °C, a technique used to allow it to be shipped around the world. The LNG will then be reconstituted into regular natural gas at an offshore regasification unit moored just off the Irish coast. It will then be brought onshore to fire the adjacent power plant and to feed the national gas grid.
The government has already signalled its opposition to importing fracked gas, although a legal ban on the importation of fracked gas is not possible under international rules according to the Attorney General.
New Fortress Energy said the majority of the world’s LNG is not sourced from fracked gas and that the proposed Shannon LNG development would not be dependent on it. The US company said it was confident it could source LNG from non-fracked sources in order to meet the energy policy guidelines in Ireland.
continued.
Interesting article PS
A follow on :
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/there-isn-t-enough-natural-gas-to-calm-down-a-global-price-rally
GLA
Wacky
Hi 2D
NDAs could also be signed with Centrica who operate Bord_Gais
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bord_Gáis_Energy
And
Simply Blue/Shell who are partners on the proposed offshore wind farm/Hyrogen project as quietly mentioned in the SLR report.
https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/new-energies/new-energies-media-releases/shell-partners-with-simply-blue-energy-to-develop-floating-wind-project.html
AIMHO of course.
GLA
Wacky
Morning all,
I would recommend a read of the Wood group rns this morning,
to include :
"Pre-FEED analysis on a CO2 pipeline network for a carbon capture, transportation and sequestration project connecting a number of locations across North America"
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/WG./trading-update-for-the-six-months-ended-30-june-21-xr5j2vphqx40l4f.html
GLA
Wacky
For anyone interested in how drilling for gas is actually undertaken, a short video by "North American Drilling Corporation"
using a rig similar in size to "Star Valleys"
Anyone into health and safety may want to take a couple of pills before watching !
Sorry bit of a nerd with this type of stuff.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=video+of+drilling+a+gas+well&docid=608003112495707507&mid=B4CA01F2CB393E518327B4CA01F2CB393E518327&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
AIMHO of course.
GLA
Wacky
The minister would be well advised to avoid the gesture politics of the last government. In his former role as taoiseach, Varadkar, with customary candour, told the international community that Ireland was a “laggard” when it came to our climate obligations. He then proceeded to bend the knee to the “stop offshore exploration” lobby with the unworkable caveat that we might continue to explore for gas only.
That decision may help put us back on the side of the angels, but it will contribute precisely zero to reducing our carbon emissions.
Make no mistake about it, for the foreseeable future gas will be part of the fuel mix. How else are we going to keep our industry humming, our farmers milking and our homes heated?
No matter how successfully the minister manages the transition to renewables, and no matter how soon new technologies come to market, gas back-up will be imperative.
In the volatile geopolitics we see playing out around us, this country is at the end of one narrow pipeline from Brexit Britain. And accidents do happen. That fact did not apparently cause the government to reflect before seeking to kill off the terminal for LNG planned for Tarbert in north Kerry.
This decision has attracted little scrutiny and seems to be regarded as a parochial local project. So we are happy to import gas, but not to explore for it and not to store it. We may rue the day that we don’t have access to a natural gas storage facility at such a suitable location. If the objection is to fracking, then, let us say so and exclude fracked gas.
I couldn’t build the North-South interconnector from Meath to Tyrone to underpin the single electricity market (SEM), the most significant piece of cooperation between the Republic and Northern Ireland, because of community resistance.
The challenge of improving the grid will also bring protests, as will the erection of wind turbines. Accelerating wind energy – offshore as well as onshore – will continue to meet obstruction. Fake news that this basic infrastructure is a threat to human health will continue to get purchase.
Almost everyone supported last week’s climate bill, but not everyone will support the measures to implement it.
Happy reading.
GLA
Wacky
Hi Grh,
Your very welcome.
Another article from the Business post from this weekend and a bit closer to home.
https://www.businesspost.ie/energy/pat-rabitte-if-leo-varadkar-is-right-and-the-economy-takes-off-like-a-rocket-we-are-at-risk-of-an-energy-crisis-3b341790
Leo Varadkar thinks that, following the lifting of restrictions, “the economy will take off like a rocket”. Let’s hope the Tánaiste is right. And if he proves to be right, care would need to be taken that we don’t sleepwalk into an energy crisis.
The decommissioning of power stations, the voracious appetite of big data centres for energy, the end of the Kinsale gas field, the climate-proofing of energy activity, the new piety about a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on the southwest coast – all of these could have the cumulative effect of leaving our energy supply on a knife edge.
When I was energy minister I seldom met anyone, outside the industry, who had much interest in or much knowledge about energy policy. So long as the kettle boiled in the morning when plugged in and once the lights in the evening came on at the flick of a switch, most people seemed content to leave the more arcane aspects of power generation to the experts.
Nor are most media businesses inclined to devote scarce resources – this parish excepted – to grappling with decisions made in the energy area. I recall being lined up by RTÉ to do an interview from an EU ministers’ meeting in Athens at a time when I was resisting the sale of the ESB.
When I asked my Greek counterpart if her government could meet the troika demands on the disposal of state assets, she replied: “Not unless we sell islands.”
The RTÉ interview took place from a hotel that, on the previous night, had been surrounded by a raging protest against the troika, but never got to a single question on energy. Rather the interview was devoted to what I knew about a supposed controversy, highlighted in the Dáil, about what was or wasn’t accurately recorded in the Taoiseach’s diary.
After more than 40 years, the Kinsale Head gas field has been exhausted and decommissioning is under way. This is an under-appreciated milestone in the country’s energy history. The only remaining indigenous gas supply comes from the Corrib field off north Mayo, but that will scarcely see out the decade.
Why does this matter? Won’t we be living in a green economy nirvana by then? Well, not without gas back-up for wind generated electricity, we won’t. Thanks to the new energy minister, Eamon Ryan, who has been in that role before, the emphasis of the government has switched quite properly to climate change and the urgent necessity to reduce our carbon emissions. However, responsibility for energy security has not gone away.
continued.
“It could slow down the development of new wind farms – on and offshore – and it will certainly hit consumers in the pocket by driving up electricity bills. At a time when growing pressure on the electricity system means we need to be developing new generation quickly to ensure a secure power supply, An Bord Pleanála should seriously consider appealing this decision,” he said.
Ireland’s energy sector has said its ambition is to achieve 70 per cent of all energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar by 2030. However, industry sources said last week’s High Court decision would make that goal very difficult to achieve.
The ruling comes amid growing pressure on Ireland’s energy infrastructure. In recent weeks, the Business Post has revealed how the number of “system alerts” warning of a shortage of electricity and possible blackouts has risen substantially in the past year.
The increase in the number of these power shortage alerts is due to the rise in demand from data centres, outages at two major gas plants, the retirement of old fossil fuel power stations and the increasing volume of variable renewables on the grid.
As a result, the ESB has had to restart all three coal generators at Moneypoint, resulting in a 15 per cent rise in carbon emissions from the sector at the beginning of the year.
Eamon Ryan, the Minister for the Environment, said in the Dáil in recent weeks that the emerging power supply gap was one of the “highest risk” and “most important issues” facing the government.
Exciting month ahead.
AIMHO of course.
GLA
Wacky
Hi all,
The hits just keep on coming,
Business Post article from this weekend.
https://www.businesspost.ie/energy/renewables-sector-warns-court-ruling-could-scupper-green-energy-at-critical-juncture-00233289
A High Court ruling issued last week will have “serious consequences” for the future decarbonisation of the Irish economy and the ability to meet our growing electricity demand unless it is overturned, the renewable energy sector has warned.
On Wednesday last week, Justice Richard Humphreys overturned planning permission for a 96 megawatt (MW) wind farm that Bord na Móna had proposed to build on bogland near Lanesborough in Co Longford.
In his ruling on a judicial review against the proposed wind farm brought by Peter Sweetman, a serial planning objector, Justice Humphreys said the application to build the 24 turbine wind farm did not include enough specific details on the dimensions and specifications of the turbines to be given planning permission.
He said the proposed turbines’ heights and blade lengths were expressed in the planning application in terms of maxima, but not the actual proposed dimensions.
He equated the application to seeking planning permission for a house that could be one storey or ten storeys in size. He said An Bord Pleanála had assessed everything on a worst-case basis and believed that this was sufficient.
He said a party could not seek permission for a project that was open-ended and overturned the decision by An Bord Pleanála to award planning permission for the wind farm.
The renewable energy industry has warned that the ruling could have major unforeseen consequences and may mean every wind farm currently going through the planning process will be denied planning permission.
Industry sources said the nature of certain projects meant it was not possible to determine the exact dimensions of certain infrastructure, such as turbine heights or blade lengths, ahead of receiving planning permission.
They said it could affect a series of renewable energy projects currently awaiting planning decisions, many of which are aiming to compete in the third Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 3) next year and be supplying power to the electricity grid by 2024 or 2025.
It comes at a time when the country’s electricity capacity is already struggling to meet demand, as reported by the Business Post in recent weeks.
The renewables industry has warned that the ruling could be particularly problematic for the development of offshore wind projects. For these, developers are submitting planning proposals, but have no real details of what form of turbines will be used in any offshore farms as the technology is still in its infancy.
“We are still examining the detail of this judgment, but it is clear that it will have serious consequences for efforts to decarbonise Ireland’s electricity system,” Noel Cunniffe, chief executive of Wind Energy Ireland, told the Business Post.
continued
Hi all,
Nice to see some progress on MOU1, as evidenced via photos on the PRD website, tubing, pallets, bags of cement, probable powdered drilling mud, Thanks for the update on the satellite photos Adon.
As per the video of the rig mobilisation, I would shadow a guess that :
Truck 1 is towing the drilling mud holding tank.
Truck 2 is towing the pumping set for the drilling mud.
Truck 3 is towing the Electrical Generator set.
Truck 4 is towing skids with ancillary kit.
Truck 5 is towing a Fuel bowser for the Generator's (could be water but doubt it)
Happy to be corrected as always interested in this type of thing.
AIMHO of course.
GLA
Wacky
Morning all,
Returned from honeymoon so now business as usual, tried to do a little bit but the new wife was watching me like a hawk.
Still getting to grips with the new presentation, which if I may say is packed with info and probably the best one yet.
Mou 2 has now been defined, Mou 1 to be drilled 1.7kms from GRF 1, did anyone pick up on that, it’s always been in that sort of area, does this mean they have found the original well ? (Re entry at some point ? )
Which will be the next drill site Mou 2 or Mou 4 ?
Running room on the other Mou prospects.
And more :
Trinidad, very successful Co2 program, with @500 bopd by Q4 this year and an income of @ £2.0m by end of q1 2021 from the AT 4 block.
Have left the door open on purchasing Fram.
Co2 expansion, don’t forget possible input with the 1 Billion barrels of oil in the Jubilee Field (EOG and others)
The only licensed business in Trinidad to supply Co2 eor services.
Funds from Trinidad to progress Morocco.
And more :
Ireland, what a monster, funded by Morocco for successor authorisation.
And a lot more :
This is a very well worked out plan which in reality only scrapes the surface.
My question, how on earth does such a small team with limited resources in comparison to the majors make a global project such as this a reality in a very to date short timeline. ?
Knowledge.
Experience.
Sheer Brilliance.
AIMHO of course.
GLA
Wacky
Morning Nic,
I would say CO2 as he was still talking in context with carbon sequestration and water/steam flooding is “old hat technology” by today’s standards.
Atb
Wacky
Morning all,
Well its certainly all go and at a fast pace I might add,
Did anyone pick up what minister Young said at @19 minutes into the presentation "The Jubilee field is a prime candidate for EOR flooding (CO2)"
A little bit of digging will reveal the Jubilee Field is OFFSHORE !
Just saying.
GLA
Wacky.
Hi Adon,
In response to your question MOU4 is 6kms to the north east of Guercif.
Atb
Wacky
Dropped a few clangers Vegas, want to do less not more lol
We’ll see :)
Atb
Wacky
Hi all,
On a slightly different note, came across this chap on Linked In.
https://tt.linkedin.com/in/myodeen-ali-19b79a42
Wonder how busy he is at the moment ? Quite I would imagine.
GLA
Wacky.
Hi Adon,
Apologies for the confusion, I think you should be in the approximate area with what you have stated.
If any satellite images come available, folk on here would really appreciate an update of progress, very much so.
Really exciting times.
Atb
Wacky
Hi Homebrewruss,
Sorry to send you on a wild goose chase but after double checking those co ordinates they don't appear to be correct.
The 3*42w would put the drill 40kms away from Guercif and we know rns have stated 10kms so 3*27w would be within that range.
The 34* 17n. would put the drill to far away from the Maghreb pipeline so 34*13n would be closer.
Apologies.
Wacky
Atb.
Wacky
Hi Sefton,
Your very welcome.
All for the greater good.
Wacky