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A renewable energy company is preparing a planning application
for a seawater pumped hydroelectric energy scheme at Glinsk
on the north Mayo coastline.
Organic
Power Ltd, a Cork-based company, has already begun
site investigations at Glinsk, near Belderrig. The firm intends
to lodge a planning application with Mayo County Council in
June.
Glinsk had been identified over two years ago by three north
Mayo priests and several Erris community groups as a compromise
site for the Corrib gas terminal. The location was rejected
on a number of grounds by Shell EP Ireland which has almost
completed construction of the terminal at Ballinaboy.
Maurice McCarthy of Organic Power Ltd said that his project
aims to store excess energy from the electricity grid and
would be located close to a number of approved windfarms which
have not yet been built.
“It is an established technology worldwide, with hundreds
of schemes - such as Turlough Hill in Wicklow - in successful
and safe operation,” he explained.
The Atlantic would be used as the 'lower reservoir'
to a land-based structure on the Glinsk upland, with visibility
confined to a reservoir embankment and access roads.
He said that a similar-type sea-water-pumped hydroelectric
energy storage scheme has been working successfully in a national
park in Japan since 1991.
Mr McCarthy said that, if it was approved, the design of
the 480MW scheme would store excess power in the reservoir
system during off-peak night-time hours, or when generation
exceeds demand.
“The stored energy will be returned to the grid through turbines
for use during peak times in the morning and evening - or
generation emergencies - thus, significantly reducing the
national need for imported fossil fuels that are required
to keep gas, coal and oil-fired power stations running,” Mr
McCarthy added.
The scheme is designed to accept up to one-third of the projected
surplus night-time wind power produced in Ireland when the
national target of 5,000MW of wind energy is achieved under
Government policy by 2020, according to Mr McCarthy. It should
significantly expedite the delivery of the wind energy target
by providing a high-voltage transmission grid connection to
the northwest, he said.
At the heart of the proposal is a new high-voltage transmission
line to deliver the area’s potential wind and ocean energy
to the existing high-voltage network. This will be achieved
via an undersea cable. Such a solution would facilitate
avoiding any issues associated with overhead power lines,
he said.
Source - The Irish Times
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