EU Funds Irish Energy Storage Project

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--One of Europe's leading energy storage projects located in Larne, Northern Ireland, has received 8.3 million euro ($9.3 million) in additional funding from the European Union (EU).

The funding, awarded by the EU's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), will advance the 330 megawatt (MW) Larne compressed air energy storage (CAES) technology project being developed by Irish renewable energy firm Gaelectric (Dublin, Ireland).It involves storing energy as compressed air in specially engineered caverns created within geological salt deposits at depths of around 1.5 kilometres (km) below ground level at Islandmagee peninsula. It is Europe's only compressed air energy storage project and will be used to harness renewable energy and boost energy security. Industrial Info estimates that the project will cost around 400 million euro ($447.6 million) in total.

"The Project will provide critical generation capacity of 330 MW for periods of up to 6 to 8 hours duration which is enough to meet the electricity needs of over 200,000 homes, and create demand on the system of 250 MW," explained Keith McGrane, Head of Energy Storage at Gaelectric. "It will also be the first in a pipeline of CAES projects which Gaelectric is developing across the rest of the U.K. and into Europe, each designed to help system operators meet generation needs and the challenges of increasing renewable generation being connected to Europe's power systems."

The Larne project was designated a European Project of Common Interest (PCI) in 2013, and last year was awarded an EU financial grant of 6.5 million euro ($7.3 million) for front end engineering and design studies.

It was one of nine projects to receive part of 263 million euro ($294 million) from the Connecting Europe Facility fund designed to support "key trans-European energy infrastructure projects".

The European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete said: "Well-connected energy infrastructure is essential to the Energy Union. This EU support will help fill the still-existing gaps in energy infrastructure, putting us on the path to a truly connected European energy market. This is a prerequisite to a secure energy supply as well as an efficient use of our energy resources and integration of renewables to the grid."

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.