Renewable energy developer Simply Blue Group has acquired land in Whitegate, adjacent to Ireland’s only oil refinery, as part of its plans to develop a renewable energy park to produce sustainable fuels.
The land acquired has been zoned for industrial use for more than a decade, Simply Blue said, noting that the energy skills and experience developed in the community over the more than 60 years of refinery operation are an additional attraction for locating a renewable energy park on the land.
The land is near a high-voltage transmission network and natural gas transmission line, and it has shoreline access. According to Simply Blue, this means transmission cables from a future fixed-bottom offshore wind farms in the south coast Designated Maritime Area Plan can potentially be brought ashore to provide renewable power for sustainable fuel production.
Hugh Kelly, Co-Founder and CEO of Simply Blue Group, stated: “We are on a mission to deliver clean energy projects to forward the energy transition. Our outwardly focused and responsive approach to project development has helped us to take strategic decisions to diversify the sustainable fuels we plan to produce. We recognise that sustainable fuels projects using non-grid renewable energy offer a rapid route to market for many renewable energy projects.”
Michael Galvin, Director of Hydrogen and Sustainable Fuels at Simply Blue Group, commented: “The highly experienced and capable sustainable fuels team have worked diligently and conscientiously to achieve an important development step for a renewable energy park able to produce low-carbon fuels at Whitegate. Their work has been crucial to identifying and initiating this opportunity and ensuring that at every step along the way we have carefully managed relations with stakeholders across the site and the community.”
To note, Simply Blue’s strategy is to develop a portfolio of clean energy projects in Ireland and other markets, including Canada and Australia, using a diverse range of renewable feedstocks and inputs.