Plans for €85m green energy power plant well received

PROPOSALS to construct an €85 million power plant in Shannon — which could see the creation of hundreds of jobs — have received a favourable response from councillors in the town.

Carbon Sole Group is proposing to construct a 60-70MWh combined heat and power plant in Shannon using bioenergy and producing green energy.

The company’s chief executive, Sean Daly, yesterday briefed members of Shannon Town Council and Shannon Electoral Area Committee on the proposal.

He said afterwards: “It was a very positive meeting and councillors asked a lot of very relevant questions. One of the questions was about heat distribution to Shannon town. This is not just about industry and we will look at all the options. Our network would also have the capacity to attract between 20 and 30 clean-tech companies into the area.

“We propose establishing a strategic group, comprising representatives of the local authority, the Atlantic Way, Shannon Development, Enterprise Ireland and others. We have already been doing quite a lot of work behind the scenes for some time now and we have already met with the likes of the Dublin Airport Authority, the Irish Aviation Authority and Met Éireann so we are taking this very seriously,” Mr Daly said.

Councillors were told similar systems in Sweden resulted in a 48% rise in GDP, as well as a 48% reduction in carbon emissions in a 10 to 12-year period.

Cllr Cathy McCafferty (SF) said: “I was very impressed with the presentation. This would be a great project for the local community because it will be green energy and very importantly, there will be jobs for the area and no doubt a further off-shoot of jobs as well. I am backing this 100%.”

Fine Gael’s John Crowe said: “This proposal would definitely be very good for the Shannon area.

“Anything that comes into the area and creates jobs is good and in this case, being green energy and environmentally friendly, this could be huge for the area.”