This article is from page 11 of the 2009-11-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
A KILRUSH Town Councillor has called on the Minister for Commu- nications and Natural Resources to look to the future by integrating the ESB Power Station in Moneypoint with renewable energy resources.
Fine Gael Councilor Ian Lynch claims that the future of energy and the economy of west Clare is in bio- energy, specifically energy derived from seaweed.
“When we think of green energy the vast majority of us will think wind and wind farms but there is no doubt that Kilrush is located in a prime position, due to its geologi- cal location and the current national erid infrastructure at Moneypoint, to maximise several of our natural resources such as wind, tidal, hydro and on the rare occasion solar en- ergy, he said.
‘“T want the minister to go one step further, I want the minister to think outside the box use initiative and diversity to ensure the future of all those currently employed at the sta- tion but also to firmly grasp the pos- sible opportunity that Kilrush has to
offer in becoming not only a national leader but possibly a European lead- er in the production of biofuel thus creating an opportunity for Kilrush, west Clare and possibly for the econ- omy to regenerate and strive.
“The production of biofuels has reached advanced stages through the global industry of green energy. The production of biofuel from seaweed and algae presents Kilrush with an opportunity to make its mark and en- sure its future,’ said the councillor.
“The cultivation of algae and sea- weed for harvesting and converting into bio fuel is advancing at a rapid rate. The potential of this as a fuel of the future is astounding and the possible benefits are immense to the local and national economy,’ he ex- je e-Nelexen
Algae naturally absorbs carbon and is currently being used in several coal burning plants through out the world as a filtration system he added.
“Filtering carbon dioxide using such a method will eliminate the need to develop the Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) facility at Money- point, the 235km pipeline, 50km of which would be under the sea, and
the storage site at Kinsale which is put at about €3 billion and over the 25 year lifetime of the plant,’ he added.
‘Harvested seaweed and algae can then be processed in to meal and bio fuel providing not only a system of reducing CO2 emissions, it produc- es employment in the cultivating, harvesting and processing process which in turn offers two additional new industries creating meal product and a biofuel product, not to men- tion the return of seaweed collection from our local beaches creating em- ployment and adding to the tourist potential of these attractions.”
“The cultivation and harvesting process can both take place at sea adding an additional advantage by ensuring that the new industry pros- pects is not competing with farm land as with the traditional wind farm method but it also allows the current lands at Moneypoint to be maximised as a possible dock land for the export of these new products,” he explained.