A GOVERNMENT REVIEW into the security of Ireland’s energy supply that will guide the development of new infrastructure should be published in the coming weeks, The Journal has learned.
The review is expected to bring clarity to the government’s plans to safeguard Ireland’s energy supply against potential future shocks while balancing the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Such measures are likely to include a state-run gas storage facility and potentially infrastructure for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG).
In an interview with The Journal at a United Nations summit in New York, Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan said he hopes that the review will receive Government sign-off and be published in “the next two or three weeks”.
“We need to look at our structures. We ended up being quite short on power in the last two years and we had to buy emergency generation, so we’re looking why that happened,” Minister Ryan said.
He attributed the tight margins between energy supply and demand in Ireland over the last several winters to a “combination” of factors.
“Primarily, it is that we were engaged in an auction process. That was the first time we were doing that type of auction and it just didn’t deliver. Secondly, one of the big companies said they could provide some equipment and then they couldn’t provide it at the last minute. So it was a variety of reasons,” he said.
“I do think there are lessons in that we weren’t possibly valuing security and climate emissions reductions enough, and so we have to learn a lesson from that. That’s one element.
“The second element to look at is gas security, because we do need gas as an interim fuel,” he said.
The use of gas as an energy source and the expansion of LNG infrastructure is a point of contention in debates around renewable energy and energy security.
Although it is not as heavy a polluter as oil or coal, gas is a fossil fuel that produces greenhouse gas emissions when it is burned, contributing to the climate crisis.
Only last week, An Bord Pleanala rejected an application for the construction of the Shannon LNG terminal in north Kerry.
Many experts argue that gas should be moved away from as quickly as possible in favour of renewable energy sources, while others argue that countries that still rely heavily on other fossil fuels should be able to use gas as a “transition” fuel or as a back-up.
During the course of the government’s energy review, it commissioned a UK-based consultancy firm called CEPA to analyse potential options for improving Ireland’s energy security.
A key option raised was the construction of a floating LNG facility that would operate during periods when there is a risk of disruption to supply. It also put forward the development of strategic gas storage.
It did not recommend the use of a fixed LNG terminal (which would be more permanent than a floating one) or commercial operation of LNG infrastructure, stating that “the introduction of commercial LNG would likely result in the importation of fracked gas to Ireland” and that “this would be in direct contradiction to the Government’s opposition to the use of natural gas produced from fracking”.
Ryan said that the government’s review is likely to recommend the same measures as the CEPA report.
“What it said, I think, is probably what what we’re likely to recommend: that we need some sort of strategic short-term storage – not commercial, but state-led – just in the event that anything happened on a pipeline or whatever, we’ve got a back-up supply,” he said.
He took a “neutral” position “in terms of whether it’s onshore storage or LNG”.
“I think the real issue is, does it live within our climate limits?” he said. “What we don’t want to do is to start promoting gas use at a time when we need to start reducing our use of gas.”
Separately, the minister published a report today into the probe of the energy market and current pricing strategies that he had tasked the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to undertake.
The energy watchdog was asked by the minister in June to investigate whether there were any “failures” in the electricity market that impacted vulnerable customers.
The investigation was to determine if the government was “missing something” and to ascertain if a different approach should be taken.
“It shows that actually some of the strategies have protected the consumer from the very worst aspects of the high prices, in addition to the support measures that the government put in place,” he said.
“I think it will help people understand, some of the graphs will show what’s been happening on energy prices,” added Ryan.
While the report found that energy prices are unlikely to return to low levels seen in 2020 and 2021, it stated that some customers should see some benefit from falling prices in the months ahead.
Ryan told TheJournal that prices should continue to come down, something the Taoiseach also said earlier this week.
“They’re heading in the right direction. I think that’s good news for households,” he said.
“I think there will be further reductions, but exactly when it’s that’s going to be up to what happens on the wholesale market,” he added.
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