H&W boss: Ireland must close critical gap in gas storage

John Wood, chief executive of Harland & Wolff, says Ireland and Britain have less than a tenth of the storage capacity of other European countries

John Wood, chief executive, Harland & Wolf: ‘We need to accelerate the transition to sustainable renewable sources of energy, but gas storage facilities will still play an important role in the future because they will be needed to store clean energy like hydrogen.’ Picture: David Cordner

Ireland and Britain are facing the prospect of a serious and ongoing energy crisis due to the lack of gas storage facilities on both islands, according to the head of Harland & Wolff.

John Wood, chief executive of the Belfast shipyard company, said there is currently only enough capacity in Britain to store a fraction of the country’s natural gas needs, while there is zero gas storage capacity in Ireland.

“There is enough storage for 2 per cent of Britain’s natural gas needs,” Wood told the Business Post. “In countries in Europe like Spain, Italy and France, the average storage capacity is typically 20 to 30 per cent of their needs.”