Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) said that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology could contribute towards the construction of greener power stations within five years.
SEI, which was responding to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency, claimed that using the Kinsale Gas Field to store carbon could cut Ireland’s emissions by 6%.
Overall estimates suggest that there could be enough locations in Ireland to store 5,000m tonnes of CO2 – enough to store electricity sector emissions for 250 years.
Dr Mary Kelly, director general of the EPA, told the Irish Times: ” represents the first step in evaluating carbon capture and storage in an Irish context.
“However, the deployment of this technology is still at a relatively early stage.”
One Norwegian gas field is already using this technology, while a power plant in Germany has begun a pilot study.