Shannon LNG reactivates plans for €650m terminal in Kerry

The 2021 planning proposal for power plant, battery energy storage system, floating storage and regasification unit, jetty, onshore receiving facilities, above ground installation and all ancillary structures/works has now been reactivated by the company, with an estimated cost of €650m. File picture

Shannon LNG has “reactivated” its €650m plans for a Shannon Technology and Energy Park to An Bord Pleanála, in what is the latest twist in a two-decade attempt to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in north Kerry.

The application by Shannon LNG, a subsidiary of the American New Fortress Energy Inc, for the energy park on the 630-acre site on the Shannon estuary between Tarbert and Ballylongford were lodged in 2021. They were refused by An Bord Pleanála in October 2023. 

However, the High Court last year told An Bord Pleanála to reconsider its refusal. The board then sought an application to take an appeal against the High Court decision but withdrew this application in March. 

The 2021 planning proposal for power plant, battery energy storage system, floating storage and regasification unit, jetty, onshore receiving facilities, above ground installation and all ancillary structures/works has now been reactivated by the company, with an estimated cost of €650m.

The proposal goes directly to An Bord Pleanála as it is Strategic Infrastructure Development, or development considered to be of strategic economic or social importance to Ireland, the region or local areas.

Earlier this year permission was granted for a 600MW power plant by the board. This permission represented an about turn by the planning board as it had originally refused permission.

Friends of the Irish Environment, one of several conservation groups, have begun judicial review proceedings against An Bord Pleanála, Ireland, the Attorney General, and the Minister for Housing in a bid to quash the plans.

A LNG terminal on the site has been in train since 2005. Permission was first granted for a terminal in 2007 on the 630-acre site after a lengthy oral hearing.

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Amendments were sought in 2013 and granted, and the following year the duration of the LNG terminal was extended to 15 years. However this was quashed by the High Court in 2020.

Other applications, including for transmission cables and connection to the gas pipeline, have been granted and survive.

The 2021 permission for the energy park was refused by An Bord Pleanála largely because it was against government policy at the time.

A number of applications related to the development of the energy park electrical and gas infrastructure for the massive terminal have been considered also over the years. A decision on the reactivated application is due in September.

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