Engineering experts have described the decision to stop burning coal in Moneypoint \u2013 the country\u2019s largest power\u00a0 station \u2013 as a mistake, and called on the government to bring back coal usage at the station to deal with Ireland\u2019s perilous energy security situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Irish Academy of Engineering \u2013 which marshals the expertise and insights of eminent engineers to provide independent advice to policy makers \u2013 says in a report issued today that the closure of the station, planned for 2029. should be postponed to 2036 to allow for a LNG facility to be developed.<\/p>\n
Eamon O\u2019Reilly, chair of the academy\u2019s energy and climate action committee, warned that current conflict in the Middle East conflict had exposed the state\u2019s weakness in relation to energy which he said was \u201cdominated by one thing, to get the economy to net zero by 2050, regardless of expense, feasibility or energy security.\u201d<\/p>\n
The engineering expert group said that the country\u2019s energy needs are \u201ctoday, met overwhelmingly by fossil fuels (83%) with, as yet, only a small contribution coming from indigenous wind and solar (8%).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe energy crisis has exposed Ireland\u2019s parlous energy security: the only short-term response available is to continue to operate Moneypoint for a decade beyond its planned closure in 2029,\u201d the IAE noted.<\/p>\n
The expert body said that Ireland \u201cneeds to act decisively and relearn lessons from previous energy shocks\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoneypoint \u2013 the country\u2019s largest power station \u2013 stopped burning coal in June 2025 and, under current plans, will close altogether in 2029. In the meantime, it will operate on Heavy Fuel Oil,\u201d the IAE noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the decision to bring Moneypoint to its end of life was in line with national climate law and with the Climate Action Plan, in the absence of replacing the energy security which Moneypoint provided over the last 40 years, the decision was a mistake and has made Ireland\u2019s energy insecurity even worse than it already was,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
Recent events in the Strait of Hormuz have highlighted this exposure and the decision to close Moneypoint needs to be reversed,\u201d the expert group advised. It made the following recommendations:<\/p>\n
\u2022 If it is not too late, Moneypoint\u2019s coal handling equipment and large coal yard should be brought back into operation to have the station available to operate as a last resort with the potential to run at full capacity for up to 90 days.<\/p>\n
\u2022 If this is not possible, then two additional Heavy Fuel Oil tanks \u2013 for which planning permission has been secured \u2013 should be constructed to double Moneypoint\u2019s Heavy Fuel Oil storage capacity to permit operation for up to 22 days.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The planned closure in 2029 should be postponed to 2036 to provide strategic energy storage for the electricity system for 10 years while a significantly larger LNG facility than is currently proposed in the State-led Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve
project is developed elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cNotwithstanding that this would increase GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions beyond what they otherwise would be, the impact would be relatively small and, when balanced against the energy security objectives which national energy policy must deliver, it would be justified,\u201d the IAE said.<\/p>\n
\u201cProgress in replacing fossil fuels in transport and heating has been slow and the timescale to eliminate fossil fuels in electricity generation is indeterminable. Ireland will continue to have a significant dependence on fossil fuels until 2050 and, most likely, beyond. In the meantime, the reality of Ireland\u2019s energy supply risk exposure must be recognised in policy and, where possible, mitigated,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
The Academy issued two reports\u00a0 this morning \u2013 \u2018Energy Security and the future of Moneypoint Power Station\u2019 \u2013 and \u2018Worst Ever Energy Crisis?\u2019 \u2013 dealing with Ireland\u2019s vulnerability in relation to energy security.<\/p>\n
\u201cIreland is an island \u2013 located at the end of vulnerable energy supply chains \u2013 with no indigenous resources to adequately and reliably meet the country\u2019s needs. These needs are, today, met overwhelmingly by fossil fuels (83%) with, as yet, only a small contribution coming from indigenous wind and solar (8%),\u201d the Academy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will take many years to significantly improve the country\u2019s energy security. In the meantime, the only short-term measure available to improve energy security is to keep Moneypoint in operation as a power station of last resort. Notwithstanding that this would increase GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions beyond what they otherwise would be, the impact would be relatively small and, when balanced against the energy security objectives which national energy policy must deliver, it would be justified.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProgress in replacing fossil fuels in transport and heating has been slow and the timescale to eliminate fossil fuels in electricity generation is indeterminable. Ireland will continue to have a significant dependence on fossil fuels until 2050 and, most likely,
beyond. In the meantime, the reality of Ireland\u2019s energy supply risk exposure must be recognised in policy and, where possible, mitigated,\u201d the IAE said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Engineering experts have described the decision to stop burning coal in Moneypoint \u2013 the country\u2019s largest power\u00a0 station…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,3229,580,61,60,191508,191509,191510],"class_list":["post-439514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-climate","tag-energy","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-academy-of-engineering","tag-moneypoint","tag-reconvert-to-coal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}