Former environment minister Eamon Ryan said there are “more economic, more environmental and more secure” options for energy security than the proposed LNG floating storage facility.
Mr Ryan acknowledged the Government’s decision as a valid security measure but said he believed alternative electricity-based solutions would be a better investment.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Mr Ryan said an interconnector with the UK and France and battery storage technology would be the best investment for the future.
“Even at the time we’ve been looking at it, there’s been a dramatic change in battery storage. The volume of battery storage we now have in the country is a multiple of anything that was predicted.
“What we’ve seen change is the likes of Moneypoint power station, which is now going to be switched to oil rather than coal production. But we could keep that as a strategic electricity storage system. In other words, you turn it on only when you’re in an emergency situation.
“And gas combined with the battery storage and interconnection in my mind would be a more economic, more environmental and more secure response to what is a real security risk,” he said.
“I believe that interconnection and battery storage technology will be the best investment for the future.
“The LNG facility is a valid and appropriate security measure to a security issue that does exist. It is good that it is not going to be a commercial facility, so we are not going to increase the volume of gas we use. It will only be used in an emergency, and I think that’s the right call.
“But I believe that investment decision as to what’s the best security alternative to work on – the work on that wasn’t concluded; I think it should be concluded, because all the analysis I saw was that those electricity solutions, rather than gas solutions, would be the better way of providing security.”
The spike in wholesale gas prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 underlined the need for Ireland to maintain a strategic reserve of natural gas.
In November 2023, a review was completed that settled on a floating terminal to store liquefied natural gas.
Yesterday’s Cabinet decision gives effect to its recommendations.
