Bord Gáis has received planning permission for a gas installation in west Limerick which will allow for the building of the first privately-owned electricity generating station in the region.
Aughinish Alumina, the alumina manufacturing plant, is currently in negotiations with potential investors to build the combined heat and power (CHP) plant on Aughinish Island in the Shannon Estuary. Bord Gáis and Canadian multinational ATCO Power withdrew from the project late last year.
Bord Gáis backed out because of the enormous capital programme it is already engaged in - the €1 billion project to extend its gas line by 318 kilometres, from Dublin to Limerick via Galway. As part of this scheme, the State company is also building a series of about a dozen above-ground installations (AGIs) which monitor the gas flow and provide for spurs to be built to surrounding towns.
The proposed single-storey AGI outside Foynes is part of this network and will be an off-take point for a spur to Aughinish Alumina, which is located 2½ miles away.
Glencore, the owners of the plant, are seeking investors to build a gas-fired station with a capacity of up to 300 megawatts (MW) at a cost of about €250 million to provide for their huge electricity needs for manufacturing alumina, the raw material for aluminium, from bauxite.
A spokesman said the company, with a 40 MW requirement, was probably the largest single user of electricity in the State. The company expects to finalise plans by June on a new investment option which would allow it to sell excess electricity into the national grid.
"It is very much a win-win for everyone and is very much part of our long term survival plan particularly in view of increasingly restrictive environmental legislation." Aughinish hopes to use gas to replace its need for significant amounts of oil, used to produce steam and for drying purposes in the manufacturing process.
Two local residents lost their appeal to the permission granted by Limerick County Council for the AGI. They had objected on the grounds of safety, smell, security, and the devaluation of their property. A certificate of evaluation, submitted from Sherry Fitzgerald, stated the proposed development would devalue their property by about €50,000.
Bord Gáis contended there was no evidence to suggest that any of its existing 148 AGIs had devalued adjacent property. They added that no fatality had occurred in Europe over the past 30 years and no serious incident had occurred in the State at the site of gas-transmitting pipelines.
The planning inspector, Mr Paul Caprani, in rejecting the appeal, stated he had visited an AGI at Loughshinny, Co Dublin, where he had not detected any smell of gas or significant noise.