Dorset County Council has resolved to grant planning permission for Portland Gas Storage Limited to build a natural gas storage facility on land at the former Naval Base at Upper Osprey on the Isle of Portland and construct the other infrastructure necessary to take and return gas to the National Grid's gas network.
With UK gas prices surging in the winter, the demand for more gas storage is acute. Suitable sites are hard to find, but the unique geology of the Jurassic Coast in Dorset provides an ideal opportunity to contribute to this national need.
Portland Gas submitted a total of seven applications, one to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR, formerly the DTI) for the pipeline, and a further six to Dorset County Council for the permanent facilities and the temporary storage areas for the pipeline during construction. These six applications all received individual approval by the planning committee. The council also granted Hazardous Substances Consent. BERR is expected to announce its decision in the near future.
Construction work will start this summer. It's hoped that all the storage space will be available for the winter of 2015. The project is forecast to cost £500M and will bring more than £2M of community investment in local projects over the next two years.
The decision was welcomed by South Dorset MP Jim Knight. He said: "The gas storage project is in the national interest, and it brings substantial benefits to people in South Dorset. The Old Engine Shed visitor centre and the Portland Gas Trust are fine examples of how business can work with a local community to make a real difference."
Andrew Hindle, CEO of Portland Gas, said: "We're naturally very happy with this decision, especially as it was made in Dorset by local representatives who know and care for this special part of the world.
"The decision is good news for South Dorset, and for the nation as a whole. In local terms, the scheme brings many benefits, including the £2M plus investment in community projects over the next two years including the creation of the Old Engine Shed visitor centre on Portland, for which there was also a resolution to grant permission today. During the construction phase our contractors will spend a substantial sum on local services such as catering and accommodation, and once the facility is completed it will provide approximately 25 permanent jobs, which Portland Gas is committed to fill where possible with local people.
"In national terms, the need for gas storage is urgent and Portland will be very important in safeguarding our energy security in the future."
The project is made possible by the thick layer of Triassic rock salt (halite), 220 million years old, that lies deep under Portland. This salt can be dissolved safely and quickly using seawater to create secure, impermeable caverns to store natural gas. Portland Gas will create 14 of these caverns, one and a half miles underground, to provide safe storage for 1,000 million cubic metres of gas - equivalent to one per cent of the UK's total annual demand. Each cavern will be 100 metres high and located deep beneath Portland Port.
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