Green light for huge UK gas storage site

Gas storage in the UK could be increased by as much as 30%, according to the government as it gave the green light to a new facility this morning.


Recent cold weather saw Tory shadow energy and climate change secretary, Greg Clark, claim the UK was running out of gas something the National Gird strenuously denied.

And, while supplies were largely unaffected across the UK, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announcement today (February 15) is clearly part of a long term plan to safeguard supplies.

It is also the first licence under DECC’s new regime aimed at ‘encouraging the construction of more gas storage’.

This deal for the Gateway Project, located in the east Irish Sea, would create twenty new salt caverns each the size of the Albert Hall.

Energy and climate change minister Lord Hunt said: “We do want to encourage more gas storage capacity, like Gateway, to provide flexibility in the future at times of high demand.

“This shows the Energy Act 2008 is proving its worth by enabling the Government to license an important new gas storage project.”

The Crown Estate, the Government’s property portfolio manager, has already agreed and issued the lease for the Gateway project.

Luke Walsh

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