Largest European Battery Project Proposed for Ireland

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Planning permission is being sought for Europe's largest proposed battery storage power project in Kilkenny, Ireland.

Bord Gáis Energy (Cork, Ireland), part of U.K. energy major Centrica plc (OTC:CPYYY) (Windsor, England), has submitted planning permission for the 100-megawatt (MW) project with Kilkenny County Council. Permission is being sought via a joint venture company Greener Ideas (Cork, Ireland), which has previously secured planning permission on the same site for a 100-MW open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) plant.

The battery project is twice the size of Europe's current largest operational battery storage project. Last April, Industrial Info reported on the commissioning of the 48-MW system of lithium-ion batteries near a substation in the municipality of Jardelund, Germany, which will be connected to a number of windfarms in the Schleswig-Holstein region, which is a major contributor to Germany's renewable energy total and is at the heart of the government's "Energiewende" (energy transition) strategy to greatly boost renewable energy. For additional information, see April 19, 2017, article - Germany Charges Europe's Largest Battery Power Project.

The Irish battery storage project is being proposed for a business park at Purcellsinch, two miles from Kilkenny city centre. It will be contained in an 85-metre-long two-storey building .

Bord Gais confirmed the application in a statement to Clean Energy News: "A planning application has been submitted at a Kilkenny site, this is one of a number of options under consideration across a number of sites. These projects are in development stage and are dependent on market structures being put in place in the coming years. For reasons of commercial confidentiality, Bord Gáis Energy cannot comment on any specifics. Bord Gáis Energy is currently exploring a number of potential options for the development of projects in the Republic of Ireland which would facilitate the growth of renewable projects, while also supporting the electricity grid."

The project is aiming to appeal to Ireland's renewable energy programme "Delivering a Secure, Sustainable Electricity System" (DS3), which is being implemented by the national grid company EirGrid to help Ireland reach its binding European Union (EU) renewable energy targets. Ireland's target under the EU Renewable Energy Directive is for 16% of the country's total energy consumption to come from renewable energy sources by 2020. In order to achieve the 16% target, the government set a 10% renewable transport target, a 12% renewable heat target and a 40% renewable electricity target.

Centrica, which owns Bord Gais Energy, is already behind some leading U.K. battery storage projects, including a 49-MW battery storage facility at Roosecote in Cumbria.

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