EM - December 2010 / January 2011 - (Page 25)

www.esb.ie/em Dec 2010 /Jan 2011 ENERGY INTERNATIONAL 25 Retirement of Philip Clarke another 800MW gas-fired station, which has received planning approval in record time. It was Philip’s dedication and hard work during this latter period of his career which earned him the honour of being the first Irishman to receive the Euskal Makila, a prestigious award presented annually by the Basque Industry and Society Foundation in recognition of a foreign business person’s economic and social contribution to the Basque Country. Philip made many friends in ESB over the years and a large number of current and former colleagues along with family and friends gathered in the davenport hotel to wish him well in his retirement. the party marked not only Philip’s departure from ESB, but also the celebration of his 60th birthday, and John McSweeney, Manager of ESBI Investments, made a presentation to Philip marking both of these major milestones. We wish Philip, his wife teresa, and all his family the very best for the future. n Strategy and Portfolio Development Team commences Clean Coal and CCS Project John McSweeney, Manager of ESBI Investments, making a presentation to Philip and his wife Teresa. ESBI PhIlIP ClarKE of ESB International has retired after 30 years of service. Philip worked in many of ESB’s businesses over the years, including Moneypoint Station in the 1980s and ESB International and transpower in the 1990s. later in 2000, he became ESBI’s Business development Manager for the Iberian market, a role he held for the next decade. during this time, Philip drove the company’s Iberian strategy and, in 2005 he delivered the Bizkaia Energia 750MW gasfired plant at amorebieta, which was the first Independent Power Project (IPP) in the Spanish wholesale power market. Philip’s delivery of Bizkaia Energia paved the way for further projects including two 50MW wind farms that are currently under development and ESBI showcases its environmental expertise Bahrain over 35 years – can you help? ESBI In 2011, ESB International will mark 35 years of operation in Bahrain. this is a significant milestone and one we can be very proud of. relations over those 35 years have been strong and many ESBI and ESB staff have made long and lasting friendships with colleagues there. ESBI would like to gather as much information and detail as possible which may have been collected over those three and a half decades. If any staff, current or retired, have photographs, video footage, newspaper or magazine features or any other documentation ESBI would be delighted to record it. you may wish to donate it on a permanent basis or just give it on loan so it can be copied. Please contact Avril Colfer at Tel. 01 703 8379 Email: avril.colfer@esbi.ie by January 31st. Pictured at AEP Mountaineer’s control valve, where C02 is injected underground, are Market & Technology Developments Manager Gerry White and Clean Coal and CCS Manager Bernardine Maloney. ESBI OnE OF thE main projects currently being undertaken by the Strategy and Portfolio development team is that of Clean Coal and Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), with a remit of developing the capability within ESB in this emerging technology together with an economic assessment of building a Clean Coal Plant. Worldwide, CCS is set to help meet at least 20% of the overall target set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% by 2050. “Such CO2 emission targets require the electricity sector to be largely decarbonised. this process will take time and if fossil fuels are to remain a source of generation, this means deploying CCS sooner rather than later,” commented Bernardine Maloney, Manager of the CCS Project. “For example, all new thermal plant over 300MW in the Eu is now required to be Carbon Capture ready, so it’s very feasible that full CCS could be required on new Combined Cycle Gas turbines (CCGt) as early as 2020. this is not only affecting our timelines but is also affecting our scope because we’re already seeing that CCS is not just an issue for coalfired generation, but is an issue for gas-fired generation too.” Participants at the International Workshop on Ocean Energy hosted by the Marine Institute on behalf of the US Department of Energy. ESBI dr. Paddy KaVanaGh, Environmental Group, ESBI Engineering, participated in the expert workshop on Ocean Energy hosted by the Marine Institute on behalf of the uS department of Energy. Paddy, who is currently preparing the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Ireland’s atlantic Marine Energy test Site (aMEtS), actively participated in the workshop’s breakout sessions providing a perspective on Ireland’s experience on ocean energy development and how environmental issues are being addressed in Ireland. the expert workshop brought together over 40 scientific and techni- cal experts from around the world to provide input on environmental effects of marine and hydrokinetic (MhK) energy generation, the state of Knowledge Management System databases (KMS); environmental effects of MhK devices; case study projects, data collection and assessed strategies in relation to environmental impacts. as part of the workshop a spreadsheet of marine energy converter types and likely environmental impacts and mitigation was reviewed. the level and extent of environmental information required by the environmental authorities in different jurisdictions necessary to obtain project consenting was also discussed together with the availability of baseline marine information. n What is CCS? CCS is a process of capturing and concentrating the CO2 from the combustion process, transporting it in dense phase (liquid) form by pipeline or ship and then injecting it into an underground storage site (geological formation), where it will be safely stored, or in other words sequestered, for the long-term, typically in a depleted oil/gas field or saline aquifer. CO2, therefore, remains in liquid form in these deep geological formations and becomes lodged in tiny pores in the rock formation deep below the earth’s surface. Currently, ESB is involved with Electric Power research Institute (EPrI) in a post-combustion CCS pilot plant at aEP Mountaineer, West Virginia, with the aim of learning about the process and technical challenges posed. the 1,300MW coal plant takes just 1.5% of the flue gas stream through a chilled ammonia plant, separates the CO2, and then injects it into two saline aquifers through wells drilled on the power plant site. ESB’s collaboration with EPrI on the aEP Mountaineer CCS Validation Facility, together with a number of other research activities being undertaken by Bernardine and her team, is the start of a process of positioning ESB to be at the forefront of CCS technology development – a technology that is becoming vital in the global efforts to combat climate change. n http://www.esb.ie/em

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of EM - December 2010 / January 2011

EM - December 2010 / January 2011
In This Issue
News
Energy Solutions
ESB Networks Ltd
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EM - December 2010 / January 2011