UK gas storage capacity

As part of a wider consultation on electricity market reform, the Government is consulting on measures to encourage additional gas storage capacity in the UK market. The question will be whether these measures, giving OFGEM additional powers and changes to the gas industry’s Uniform Network Code (and to feature in the upcoming Energy Security & Green Economy Bill), will provide the vital spur to the new investment in storage that is required for a number of projects that have been given consent.

Taylor Keogh has supported the Gateway Gas Storage project in the Irish Sea since 2005: it was the first scheme to receive a Storage Licence from the UK Government earlier this year, after it had secured its main planning and environmental consents in 2008. Front end engineering & design, involving teams from AMEC, Senergy and PB Power, is set to be completed before Christmas and steps to secure additional financing for the project are ongoing.

When built, the £600m plus facility will add new capacity equal to approximately 30% of current UK storage capacity, sufficient to meet five days of Britain’s average gas demand. Gateway will comprise 20 salt caverns, each the size of the Albert Hall, and sited approximately 750m beneath the surface of the seabed. Located 15 miles offshore, south west of Barrow-in-Furness, the storage scheme will be connected to the National Gas Transmission System via a new pipeline to a gas compression station adjacent to the existing Morecambe gas terminals at Barrow. The commencement of storage services is targeted for 2014/15. www.gatewaystorage.co.uk

Infrastructure planning & consultation: using 3D animation

With community consultation a vital component of the planning process for energy projects, Taylor Keogh works with 3D Web Technologies, one of the UK’s leading computer graphics firm. The company designs interactive computer generated models that allow people to see and understand how new infrastructure projects, such as an onshore or offshore wind farm, a gas-fired power station or overhead pylons, will look against the existing landscape. Over the past 18 months, the company has worked with EDF Energy, E.ON and RWE npower.

Photo-montages, from fixed locations, have been used for many years but this interactive technology offers councils and communities a new way of seeing how projects will actually look.

Visual impact is often given as a main reason why a planning application is refused and 3D’s technology is helping to win applications by assuring people about the impact of a proposed project on their local environment. www.3dwebtech.co.uk

Planning regime gearing up for further change

Whilst the Infrastructure Planning Commission is set to continue until possibly as long as April 2012, the planning regime for infrastructure projects is set for further change as the Government seeks to ratify its National Policy Statements (by Spring 2011) and brings forward its Decentralisation & Localism Bill. The Bill will see the abolition of the IPC (to be merged into the Planning Inspectorate), devolution of greater powers to local authorities but with final decisions on major projects resting with the Secretary of State.

Ideally, the Government wants to see the best parts of the 2008 Planning Act (NPSs, statutory timetables and a single consenting regime) to dovetail with the Decentralisation & Localism Bill.

In the autumn of next year, it is conceivable that there will be three different consenting processes running concurrently for major energy projects: (1) applications lodged before the establishment of the IPC still going through the old ‘Section 36’ regime, (2) projects taken forward under the IPC framework: presently 48 out of the 54 projects (of which 80% are energy related) registered with the IPC are still at the pre-application stage and (3) projects that will be processed under the Major Infrastructure Planning Unit regime created by the Decentralisation and Localism Act Bill. This is set to go live in October 2011.

In practice, much of the IPC process and personnel are likely to remain in situ under a new name, with a Secretary of State, rather than an IPC commissioner giving the final seal of approval.

The IPC appears to be working “business as usual”: receiving applications, offering advice to developers and council planners as well as outreach work to local communities. Although the transition period is in their sights, the IPC are hopeful that the first batch of decisions will be made by the middle of next year.

Irrespective of the planning regime that is in place, public consultation is enshrined. Communication has always been a vital part of a successful consents process. Open dialogue with elected representatives and local communities and interest groups has always been necessary but now it is a statutory requirement.

Too often, the myths and fears of a proposed project become the biggest obstacle, and any barrier between the local community and the developer can lead to distrust and disapproval. Similarly, local politicians and officers can be lost straight away if the project is felt to have landed upon them with no warning. A proper introduction, not only to the project but the company as well, can ensure that the merits of any scheme have an increased chance of being heard.

Communication with the local community is vital, no matter how big a development is, as a groundswell against a proposed scheme at local level can be a project killer or at the very least be costly. Genuine dialogue is needed.