We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
AN ESB POWER station in Co Offaly has been refused planning permission to redevelop in order to burn biomass.
The station in Shannonbridge sought permission continue the use of its ash disposal facility beyond the permitted date of 31 December 2020. It also sought permission to transition to being solely fuelled by biomass by the end of 2027.
The planning permission was refused by An Bord Pleanála today.
In a statement, the ESB has said it is “disappointed that the application has been rejected”.
“ESB will now carefully study the details of the decision,” it said.
Refusal
In its decision, An Bord Pleanála outlined its reasons for refusal: “It is considered that the provision of a regionally significant power generating facility, dependent primarily upon the burning of a fuel imported into the facility, needs to be associated and aligned with strategic energy management, planning and renewable energy policies and plans in order to achieve balanced, orderly and sustainable development.”
It added that it was considered that the “development of such energy infrastructure, pursuing optimal sustainable utilisation of renewable energy emanating from the power production process, is required in order that such development positively contributes to the environment and that the siting of such development is appropriately located, with accessibility to the supply network of the intended fuel sources”.
Finally, it is considered that the cessation of the use of peat as a fuel is a key component within national climate and energy policy in helping to reduce the generation of excessive greenhouse emissions from the established facility to assist in meeting the State’s domestic, EU and international climate change obligations in the energy sector.
Criticism
Minister Communications, Climate Action and the Environment Richard Bruton has said it is “disappointing” that the plans have not been accepted.
Bruton said the ESB will now need to evaluate the decision.
“The ESB will have to look at that and see what are the implications for the future,” Bruton told RTÉ News at One.
“From the government’s point of view, we want to ensure that the strategy that Bord na Móna want to pursue – which is to have an orderly exit from peat and to create alternative employment – that remains the priority for government,” he said.
Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen has said the decision must be appealed.
“At the end of the day, the speed at which plants are closing and jobs are being lost is completely disproportionate to any investment in the region and the midlands will be left behind. I am calling on the ESB to immediately appeal the decision,” Cowen said.
Siptu has called on Minister Bruton to take direct responsibility for the continued operation of ESB power stations.
“The news today, that An Bord Pleanála has refused Shannonbridge Power Station in county Offaly a licence to develop a biomass fuel firing system threatens hundreds of jobs in the midlands region,” ESB group of unions secretary Willie Noone said in a statement.
Speaking on RTÉ News on One, Noone said that he is “absolutely devastated” about today’s decision.
“Not surprised, we were expecting bad news, not to this extent of bad news. This actually opened up pandora’s box as regarding Bord na Móna and future work within that company,” Noone said.
“We’ve called for the Minister to get involved, he has to get involved now and bang heads together,” he said.
“This is now a serious crisis.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
It’s not rocket science. It has to go.
It’s also not rocket science that a just transition is the only politically and morally viable one. The soon to be ex employees need to retrained and re-employmed rapidly.
@Seán Troy: Redeployment isn’t an option for everyone. People have homes, family, schools, friends in the area.
@Louise Tracey: Yes. Why not convert it from peat-burning to biomass? Or even an incinerator?
@Fiona Fitzgerald:
“Why not convert it from peat-burning to biomass?”.
That was the plan which has been rejected. The conversion would have taken place over an 8-year period.
@Joe Nolan: Exactly. Why was that rejected? I’m not among those quibbling about a former peat-burning power station. I’m trying to fathom why a plan to convert the power station and keep local jobs was rejected. It reads as if the Bord wants it to be built elsewhere and not in Offaly. Closer to a source of biomass.
@Fiona Fitzgerald:
I totally agree. I think the Bord may have overstepped its mandate in terms of the grounds on which it rejected the submission. The reasoning seems to be very “political” and in contradiction to government policy (judging by the comments of Minister Bruton). The statement on the source of biomass relative to the location of the Plant is strange given the biomass will have to be imported from abroad. An 8-year conversion period seems eminently sensible from an environmental and social perspective to provide alternative employment for the local community.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: unfortunately no fuel source could have have been grown locally, or even in Ireland that would have the capacity to feed the station. As a result, the only option was to import the bio mass. This is one of the reasons why the ESBs plans were rejected.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: that would be built in Brazil then
@Joe Nolan: Yes. What puzzles me is as you say, the oddly specific wording. It almost reads as though there might be other plans for a regional site, but not there. And utilising national resources.
Okay.
So the plan was to import it.
We do have Coillte. But the declined plan proposed to import biomass from abroad. If so, hardly a sustainable plan.
@Thomas Sheridan: Right, got that. Decision makes more sense now. I couldn’t see why it wasn’t feasible for continuity of local jobs, as a sustainable conversion in situ. But I was assuming biomass sourced in Ireland.
@Seán Troy: retrained and reemployed. You should listen to Andrew yang’s interview on Joe Rogan and see how that logic plays out.
@Fiona Fitzgerald:
Closer to the source of the biomass. Correct. Perth, Western Australia, or somewhere in Brazil or Indonesia. This gross squandering of over €100 million a year, keeping these stations going must stop. Every town should have a Scandinavian type CHP plant, burning local biomass at over 80% efficiency, not these yokes kept going at 30%.
A proper native scheme would be massively advantageous to our rural economy, wildlife, etc.. especially farmers’ incomes, as cattle production in particular finds itself the wrong side of the Climate Curve.
ESB’s idea of native biomass is them getting all the subsidies from the PSO carbon tax, and dribbling it out to the farmers to grow it an a barely economic rate. NO.NO.NO. Forget that. The subsidies for growing it should be paid direct to the farmers and harvesters.
All the parties have been in this scam up to their necks, every one of them. “jobs on the bogs” its called and its what has got us so hopelessly behind on our Climate Change obligations.
The right decision. Peat is finished.
@Aodhán Éire: Did you read the article, they’ve been refused permission to change over from peat to biomass.
@Juan Fangio: Disgraceful decision. Unelected extreme self appointed group like An Taisce destroying rural families.
We all know closing the plant will do nothing absolutely nothing to change the climate
@Juan Fangio: Pointless decision. Unelected group like An Taisce destroying rural families.
We all know closing the plant will do nothing absolutely nothing to change the climate
@Juan Fangio: Rural ireland are influenced more by An Taisce than their elected reps
We all know closing the plant will do nothing absolutely nothing to change the climate
It’s a sad day for many people in rural Ireland. I worked for bord na Mona for 4 summers when i was in college, and I still have family and friends working there now. This day was coming for years, yet many just would not believe it, as its the only job they have had for 30+ years. This will be a huge blow for offaly, and also Longford and North Roscommon as lough ree power will probably have a similar fate soon.
@Aodhán Éire: totally agree with you. Peat is actually dirtier to burn than coal. The phasing out of Peat should have started years ago.
@Blessopaddy: No one is disagreeing with ye. No one’s talking about peat here.
I’m sure there will be employers flocking to Shannonbridge to take advantage of the workforce, after all our economy is thriving…
In reality the recession continues in places like Offaly.
@Artugal: Agreed. I hope they work with the ESB to help them to develop a better plan. I can’t see how closing it down – when it could be converted – & losing hundreds of jobs, is balanced and sustainable.
Oh my goodness, I said something slightly disparaging about An Taisce and my comment was removed, I must have rocked the boat on someone in the Journal.
biomas i not the answer either – they opened a bio mass plant in the town were we used to live in the uk , the problems caused by it are disgusting – the acrid smell at all hours of the day and night mean that every home within a five mile radius of the pant has to keep its windows and doors shut -even on the hottest days – you cant put clothes out to dry as they end up smelling disgusting , cars are often covered in a whitish powdery fall out from the plant ,and the increase in traffic congestion caused by the never ending lines of trucks and lorries spewing diesel fumes into the streets has caused many people and businesses to move – problem is they cant sell their homes because no one wants to live near the plant !! with the plant in offaly they need to import the majority of the biomass from abroad ,surely this has to be taken into consideration with regards the carbon footprint of the plant .
@Eric Davies: What if the alternative was wind farms? Seems a cleaner alternative supply. Also diesel is being phased out here. What were the trucks and lorries carrying that couldn’t be transported by water?
Certainly we have plenty of wind & water in Ireland. Maybe our seas are too rough to install windmills offshore, as in Wales? I don’t know.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: fiona – with regards to the plant i mentioned in my post – the trucks and lorries were carrying the bio mass products for the plant to operate – they could not go by any other means than road as there were /are no waterway or rail links to that area – all the old canal systems in the area would not be able to cope with the amount of fuels needed for the plant to operate at full or even half capacity . the issue with that plant is that it creates more problems than it cures – the acrid smell from the production -the fallout debris from the high chimney stacks , the road congestion to the site and surrounding area – also the materials used (or a high percentage of them) are imported from abroad totally wiping out and carbon savings the biomass plant would produce . the same in offaly – the materials would be imported from south australia (according to reports today ) shipping wood chips and other matter half way around the world will do nothing to reduce irelands carbon footprint – it will cause more damage than cutting and burning the peat that already exists on the site ! planting of native trees might help -these could be felled at some future date to provide the wood chips required for the production plant – but it would be 50 or more years before that comes into fruition – as for wind power – there might be issues with regards to the geology of the area and the stability of large wind driven masts – if these needed to be sunken into concrete to stabilize then then you would have to factor in the environmental cost of pouring thousands of tonnes of concrete into a very sensitive ecosystem like a former bogland . its no use going full tilt at this issue only to find in 10 ,20 or 50 yrs time its done more harm than good – for once lets do something right first time and avoid the consequences of yet another fu*k up !
I wonder if any consideration has been given to running it on Natural Gas? You could build a spur from the current pipeline, somewhere between Athlone and Ballinasloe presumably, which would supply the station with a type of fuel An Bord Pleanála couldn’t reasonably reject.
Of course I know nothing about power generation so this may be entirely unfeasible for reasons far beyond my understanding but the 10km of pipeline itself shouldn’t be too much of an issue and at least it would keep some jobs at the plant. Just a wild notion I guess or someone relevant would have thought of it already.
@John Considine: It’s at least an alternative plan.
Seems more sustainable if it’s our own natural gas.
Not sure if overland pipelines are the way to go. As you say, it’s only 10k. Maybe dig them in?
@John Considine: Sorry. You don’t run a power station out in the middle of a bog. You run in right in the middle of where you want to use the power and the heat. That is why stations like this are operating at little over 30 % efficiency and CHP (combined heat and power) where the heat is used locally are over 80% efficient. All this can be part of a massive new rural industry, which is just what we need right now to take over from the slide out of cattle farming. Each new CHP would be supplied by local harvesting, within 25 or 30km. Not like now with a ship coming next week from Australia.
Here all our PSO tax of 500m a year, has been hived off to the corporates, when in other EU countries it gets given out to the ordinary citizen as a green reward.
@John Considine: “I wonder if any consideration has been given to running it on Natural Gas?… Of course I know nothing about power generation so this may be entirely unfeasible”
Correct, it’s not just a matter of laying a few pipes. Bit like how you can’t just fill the fuel tank of a diesel vehicle with petrol and expect it to run.
This is a tragic decision for Irish industrial employment and self-sufficiency in Ireland. If this madness by do-gooders in Dublin is allowed to continue, and to continue spreading around the country, we will create very many forgotten people in Ireland. When this happened in America, the forgotten blue-collar workers all voted for Donald Trump. We may need an Irish Trump soon.
We need to be protecting Irish industry, factories and power plants, and not allowing them to be destroyed by the cosmopolitan slaves of Green fashion and ideology. The ESB should re-submit a planning application to enable the continued operation of the critical piece of industrial infrastructure that is the power station at Shannonbridge, and the Government should be heavily involved to ensure the success of such a renewed application.
@J. Reid:Only right comment on here 100% correct.
@J. Reid: this is the same rural Ireland that object to most proposed industrial development proposed. You can have your cake and eat it. I live in rural Ireland too…
@J. Reid: Ireland needs to stop burning peat.. There are plenty of renewable ways to make electricity. There workers in BM need to move on.
I am against it bunch of Tossers win again .
What about local employment ?
Should turn the place into a meat
smoking business.
Soon the way things are going we will all be left cold hungry and in the dark backward with no electricity thanks to the muppet show government.
We need to stop burning peat and put wind turbines or solar farms on the bogs..
@Tim McCormack29: ground may not be stable enough for that – and pouring thousands of tonnes of concrete into a sensitive ecosystem is not a good idea either !
have your say