Larne Wind Project Could Create 200 Jobs

A £200m geology project in Larne - planned to revolutionise renewable power generated from wind - could create up to 200 construction and engineering jobs, it has been revealed.

Gaelectric, the renewables and energy storage company, is behind the unique Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) facility in County Antrim.

Development of the proposed plant will involve an investment of up to £200m over a three-year period, providing approximately 200 jobs across the construction and engineering services sectors.

The energy storage facility will maximise the potential of renewable power, whilst stabilising electricity prices and emissions.

Keith McGrane, Head of Offshore Energy and Energy Storage at Gaelectric, said: "One of the greatest challenges to unlocking the potential of wind power is to match generation with periods of peak demand.

"Gaelectric intends to deploy compressed air into underground geological caverns in the Larne area as a means to store energy generated from wind, for release during periods of peak demand, or as required by the grid operator.

"Such technology has the potential to revolutionise renewable power generation from wind."

Compressed Air Energy Storage refers to the use of off-peak power to compress air into an underground geological storage vessel, such as, a salt cavern, a depleted gas field or a disused mine.

This compressed air is later released to generate peak power during periods of higher electricity demand.

Gaelectric carried out a survey across Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland to see if there was suitable geology for a CAES plant.

Larne was identified as an area with a unique geology and the presence of salt deposits from the Triassic period provided the impetus to investigate the development of a CAES plant there.

The objective would be to leach caverns at depth in the salt deposits, producing the energy storage vessels required for CAES.

There are two CAES plants currently operational in the world - one in Germany (the Huntdorf Plant built in 1978) and the other in the USA (the MacIntosh plant built in 1991).

Welcoming Gaelectric’s announcement Professor Neil Hewitt, from University of Ulster’s School of the Built Environment, said: "Energy storage is proven to be able to reduce both the peaks (and troughs) in demands leading to higher efficiency supply-side operations.

"Storage can allow alternative energy formats to reduce operating costs through energy which is supplied at some earlier time and delivered when required."

(PR/JM)