Michael McDowell: Do we have a ‘department of energy’ or a ‘department of lethargy’?

The Government was due to “unveil” its options in relation to energy supply security on Monday. But now we are told there will be a month-long public consultation process on foot of the much-delayed Cepa consultancy report looking at options which was published this week. And – wait for it – at the end of the public consultation process the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications – which has responsibility for energy policy – will then consider the outcome and prepare its own proposals to be considered by the Government.

The Cepa tender consultancy contract was awarded in May 2021. This was before the Russian invasion of Ukraine this spring, although Cepa subsequently widened its research to encompass the possibility of Russian gas supplies being cut off.

Cepa proposes two gas-storage options among 10 options it identified for dealing with shocks to Ireland’s energy supply. There were to either create a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) gas storage by harbouring storage ships in safe Irish waters, or build a big onshore storage facility (or a number of them) to create a strategic stockpile from imported gas supplies. Of course both options may be pursued given that the onshore option is likely now to take four or five years to be completed.

Concluding that Ireland needs to build a gas storage facility to ensure continuity of gas supply did not require hiring consultants to look at options and then embarking on a consultancy process followed by a departmental review. It has been blindingly obvious for more than a decade that Ireland was vulnerable to an interruption of imported gas supplies, and that we had no infrastructure capable of sustaining us through a crisis caused by interruption of – or large price hikes – in gas imported via the UK.

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Do we have a “department of energy” or do we have a “department of lethargy” – one that sees itself as a forum for ventilating options and reports rather than making and implementing policy decisions?

The energy department (by whatever name it is known from time to time) has been aware of the risks associated with Russian policy in relation to gas supply to western Europe for more than a decade. But the tender for the Cepa options consultancy was only approved and issued six years after Russia annexed the Crimea in 2014.

It would be unfair to criticise any Minister or department for failing to predict the subsequent invasion of Ukraine. But our vulnerability was clear from as early as the 2009 when Russia cut supplies to Ukraine. Surely that was the time for options, (if not decisions on our options) to be considered. Do we not have, among the officers and agencies responsible to the department, the necessary expertise to identify energy security options and carry out evaluation of those options?

Given that we need access to gas-generated power for the next few decades, and given that we are exceptionally vulnerable, you might be forgiven for imagining that it was, has been, and continues to be a very serious State policy function to plan for contingencies, options and strategies that reflect that reality.

The Green Party leader, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan, says that an onshore gas storage facility is his preference. He believes that it should be State controlled. He hopes that it could be future-proofed to become adaptable for storage of hydrogen whenever we become a hydrogen producer. The key questions are how, when, where, at what cost, and by whom such infrastructure can be built.

What do we do in the meantime? If commissioning, planning and implementing construction takes four or five years, the project is irrelevant to the present crisis. About as relevant as the ill-fated national children’s hospital was to the Covid epidemic.

The floating LNG storage facility option might at least be planned to be commissioned in 12 or 18 months. So, is the Minister prepared to follow both options?

Let’s not forget the debacle that led to emergency gas-powered generating station plans being abandoned almost as soon as they were announced. Are diesel-powered generators in data centres really earmarked for emergency power generation instead?

How does it make sense to ban further development of offshore gasfields while considering options for onshore LNG storage? The UK is expanding such activity.

There is talk of addressing possible power shortages this winter and next with domestic “renewable” generation. We also hear about Ireland’s huge offshore wind power potential. The department has been so lethargic that permits for such projects are simply unobtainable this year. Maybe next year?

Maybe we will harness offshore wind to electricity and hydrogen generation in future. But have we the political and administrative skills to convert wishful thinking into solid achievement? You would have to wonder.