Ireland’s national independent planning body, An Bord Pleanála, has granted planning permission for an LNG power plant in north Kerry, in an apparent U-turn.
The proposed power plant, which will be located on a 630-acre site between Tarbert and Ballylongford on the Shannon Estuary, will include an emergency storage facility for natural gas in the event of supplies being cut off to the country.
In October, 2023, the board refused planning permission for the project pending an Irish Government’s review of the security of energy supply to 2030.
It found the proposal was “contrary to government policy and therefore contrary to the proper planning and development of the area,” the Irish Times reported.
Shannon LNG challenged the board’s decision, and last November, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys in the High Court ordered the board to review the application.
He said the board had not taken into consideration a 2023 national risk assessment that the absence of a major storage facility for natural gas was “a risk for security of supply”.
In its reviewed decision, the board has given the go-ahead for the facility, saying it was satisfied that the plant was consistent with national climate ambitions.
