PRESS RELEASE
KEY GAS STORAGE SCHEME WILL HELP
BRITAIN MEET PEAK ENERGY NEEDS
A MAJOR gas storage scheme which will substantially increase UK capacity, reduce the likelihood of seasonal price hikes and help prevent future domestic and industrial shortages has been given the go ahead.
King Street Energy, the Glasgow-based gas storage developer, has been given the green light to develop ten underground caverns in the extensive salt deposits of Northwich, Cheshire.
The Department of Communities and Local Government has also given planning permission for a twin pipeline from Cheshire to the Mersey Estuary which will enable sea water to be used to create the caverns more quickly and safely.
The construction of the pipeline asset could also speed up the development of other gas storage facilities in the Cheshire basin where many of the geologically suitable areas for on shore gas storage facilities in the UK are located. Until now, a lack of sufficient water plus reduced demand for brine has constrained the development of gas storage sites.
A spokesperson for King Street Energy, said: “We are delighted that this important project has been given the go-ahead. Increased gas storage capacity is urgently needed in this country and developments like ours will add to the UK’s diversity of supply and be vital to securing UK energy needs in the future. It will also allow suppliers to manage the kind of variable demand we’ve seen in recent cold weather much more effectively.”
The UK has been a net importer of gas since 2004 and currently has enough storage capacity for just 5 per cent of its annual consumption compared with 21 per cent in Germany and more than 18 per cent in the US. The recent cold weather left Britain with only four days of gas left in reserve at one stage. National Grid has in the last week issued four gas balancing alerts – warnings of potential shortages to major users and called on shippers to bring extra supplies into the system.
With the UK expected to be reliant on foreign gas imports for up to 80 per cent of its supplies by 2020, the King Street initiative and others like it will also play an important role in helping the UK to ride out international supply disputes and pipeline reliability problems. It will also help to reduce the UK’s need to import gas when it as its most expensive in the peak winter months
In granting the consent, the Communities and Local Government letter said: “There is clearly an urgent need for additional gas storage in the UK in order to maintain a secure supply of energy in the future. The appeal site is one of a limited number of locations where underground gas storage can be accommodated.”
Niall Trimble, of the The Energy Contract Company, experts in global energy markets, said: “This is excellent news for gas consumers in Britain. Although the gas market in the UK has coped well with the recent period of high demand, greater difficulties lie ahead."
“By the middle of the decade, the decline in production from the older, more flexible North Sea fields will create a shortage of winter gas and this in turn will mean a growing demand for gas storage. The construction of this facility will significantly improve our security of supply for gas and will also help to moderate price spikes in the spot market for gas in the future.”
“Storage should always be built close to customers, in order to speed up deliveries and minimise transport costs. The new King Street facility is ideally placed to serve the key gas markets in the North West and West Midlands.”
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To read Final Decision Letter and the Inspectors Report please click below:
Final Decision Letter
Inspectors Report
King Street Energy
Proposed Gas Storage, King Street, Cheshire
After many years of self-sufficiency, the UK became a net importer of natural gas in 2004 and this trend will continue. The UK is moving from virtual self-sufficiency to being 80-90% reliant on imports by 2020.
In this respect NPL Estates, through its wholly-owned subsidiary King Street Energy (Cheshire) Ltd, is responding to the need for more underground gas storage in the UK by bringing forward the King Street development near Rudheath in Cheshire.
The site was formerly part of the operational Holford brinefield and has an existing planning consent for brining and underground waste disposal. It is proposed to store gas in underground cavities leached in the salt layer some 400m below the surface. The thick salt layer coupled with the overlying marl makes the conditions ideal for gas storage.
NPL is proposing to construct ten cavities, each with a volume of 400,000 cubic metres. It is expected that up to 240 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas will be stored in total, of which up to 160mcm of working gas will be moved in and out during normal operations.
The supporting gas processing facility will be located on the centre of the King Street Site. The existing screening and planned tree and hedge planting will lessen the visual impact and the facility will be engineered to ensure that noise and other emissions will be kept to a minimum.
On the King Street site, there will be a need to bring in drilling and other equipment from time to time but once completed the wellheads will be secured in small compounds and fully screened from the surrounding area. Most of the project space will be returned to long term agricultural use.
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In order to speed the development to assist the Government’s timetable objectives, NPL proposes to construct a twin pipeline system between the Mersey Estuary and the King Street site to supply leaching water and to discharge the weak brine. Other gas storage projects in the district take water from the local rivers and pass the brine to process users. However, the rivers have little remaining abstraction capacity and there is no scope for local companies to process more brine for some time to come. The amount of salt which will be discharged into the sea will be minimal compared with the size of the Cheshire/Staffordshire long term reserves.
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The pipeline system will include pumping stations at both ends of the line and one set at approximately the half-way point. These facilities will be largely underground. There will be a need for an intermediate storage tank system at the King Street end to provide a buffer between the brining and pipeline operations. All such facilities will have substantial screening to minimise the visual impact. |