Data from the Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory for Europe shows that on Sunday, Ireland had no gas in stock.
The overall rate of energy stored for the European Union is currently at 83% which is on target for a planned 80% rate across all member states by November.
There are still fears, however, that continued pressures on supplies due to the war in Ukraine will mean that this may still not be enough to ensure a secure supply over the winter months with even full storage capable of sustaining demand for no more than three months.
The fragility of Ireland’s position is illustrated by the fact that the state is largely dependent on natural gas imports from Britain which itself is also mostly dependent on gas imports, and which, of course, is now outside of the EU which adds another dimension to Irish dependency.
📢Today ENTSOG published its interactive dashboard of European gas flow data, based on data from ENTSOG's #Transparency #Platform and @GIEBrussels Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory (#AGSI) 👉 Link: https://t.co/GO7P5TyZyo 👉Read the PR: https://t.co/ypsBdF7VJY #SecurityOfSupply pic.twitter.com/RayYIAe5rU
— ENTSOG (@ENTSOG) April 5, 2022
Ireland currently gets around 25% of natural gas from the Corrib field with the remainder coming through the two interconnectors with Scotland. Interestingly, on February 23 this year, at the very beginning of the Ukrainian crisis the Department of the Environment issued a statement on the likely impact on energy supplies. It claimed that even in the event of gas supplies coming under pressure that power plants here would have sufficient liquid supplies to cope. It would appear that they do not.
This comes as, a decision on a liquid gas storage facility in the Shannon Estuary was once again postponed last week. The main reason for the delay, which frankly looks absurd in the current context, is that one of the parties in Government – guess which – and its NGO and activist allies objected.
On what grounds? Well, because they originally feared that the imported gas would be accessed from fracking in the United States. Mind you, none of these people seem to have any difficulty with the fact that the state imports nuclear-generated electricity from Britain via another connector.
This, again, highlights the utter hypocrisy of these people because it was mainly their ilk who were responsible for the fact that the Irish state decided not to opt for nuclear generation when it would have made huge sense back in the late 1970s.
The company behind the LNG project, New Fortress Energy, have submitted documentation to the planning authorities which apparently proves that none of the imported gas will be accessed through fracking. So the Green and other far left participants at a recent “climate camp” on the proposed site decided to change the narrative. Even if fracking is not a factor they oppose any fossil fuel infrastructure being constructed.
It is an illustration of the disconnect between world still inhabited by this minority and the leftist parties that follow its mantra, that the Green minister Eamon Ryan should have told the Dáil on July 14 – just as the energy crisis was getting worse and just before electricity and gas prices rose by almost one third – about how
It is possible to see that hybrid interconnection between offshore wind and onshore grid backed up by hydrogen power as a continual seamless indigenous secure energy system. It can also be exported through interconnectors, gas pipelines or the shipping of, for example, ammonia, as I mentioned.
Green Hydrogen Strategy Bill 2022:…: 14 Jul 2022: Dáil debates (KildareStreet.com)
And if you think that the main opposition party is any more sensible on this, then read the Sinn Féin spokesperson, Darren O’Rourke’s response in which he rambled on about “green hydrogen” and how “climate action is clearly in the social and economic interest of people, and of course, in the environmental interest of people and the planet.”
What planet indeed are these people living on? Should it not be a priority for them that the state in which they are elected representatives is massively and dangerously dependent upon imported energy? One of the reasons for that successive governments have failed to ensure that Ireland, as a supposedly independent state, has a secure and reliable source of energy not almost totally dependent on factors outside of their control. .
There are, of course, alternatives including the harnessing of offshore wind as well as the existing oil and gas deposits, but until something practical is done to ensure their fuller development, it makes absolutely no sense to delay a sensible proposal that would at least ensure that there is a dependable supply in storage. That is something that Ireland uniquely among all of the EU member states does not currently have.