Further to our announcement of 13 October 2021, We are delighted to announce that we have been formally granted the Environmental Consent Decision, Full Marine Licence, Abstraction Licence and Discharge Consent by the Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs (DAERA) for our gas storage project.

The issuance of the full marine licence completes this critical workstream and we look forward to working closely with DAERA in fulfilling our obligations under the terms of the licence and to take this project to the next stage.

The Islandmagee Gas Storage project is a salt cavern gas storage facility located in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The Islandmagee peninsula is the site of Northern Ireland’s main gas-fired power station at Ballylumford, the strategic electrical interconnection point to Great Britain and the terminating point of the existing Scotland-Northern Ireland gas pipeline, making it an ideal location for an energy project of this type. Once completed, the Islandmagee Gas Storage facility will consist of seven underground caverns, capable of storing a total of approximately 500 million cubic metres of gas in Permian salt beds, a well-proven technique that represents the most environmentally friendly, safe and efficient method of storing large volumes of gas.

The Islandmagee facility is expected to provide over 25% of the UK’s current natural gas storage capacity and will support the growing demand for gas-fired power development and renewable energy generation throughout the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic. 

Islandmagee is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc(AIM: HARL), formerly known as InfraStrata plc. 

As noted by Oxford Analytica* in a report focussing on domestic gas storage, it was highlighted that:  

• During construction, 400 direct jobs will be created, as well as between 800 and 1,200 indirect jobs, expected to bring around £7 million into the local economy. It has also been estimated that during this stage that for every £1 million of capital expenditure, a further £2 million will be created in the economy; this means with 75% local content, the wider economy could benefit by around £400 million.
• During operation, a further 60 direct jobs will be created, expected to bring in around £1 million into the local economy and between 120 and 180 indirect which would bring in a further £2-3 million.
• Many of the jobs created will be skilled Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) jobs as detailed in the Belfast Region City Deal.

* Oxford Analytica Report:  https://www.harland-wolff.com/news/3d-flip-book/domestic-gas-storage/