TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said a new Co Offaly facility which will assist the stability and reliability of the electricity grid has come at a “critical time”.

The new €130 million project in Shannonbridge will involve around 150 jobs over its two year construction phase, and support 15 jobs on completion.

When completed, the ‘Shannonbridge B’ grid stability plant will provide an additional 170MWh of hybrid capacity to the national electricity grid.

The new hybrid facility, developed by Irish company Lumcloon Energy and Korea’s Hanwha Energy, is described as a “world’s first” that will more efficiently meet the changing needs of the power system as the level of renewable energies increases.

It combines a long duration battery with a synchronous condenser – the batteries can deliver rapid frequency response, while synchronous condensers provide low carbon inertia, both of which are required to react to any sudden loss in electricity supply or surge in demand.

Turning the first sod on the project, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin labelled it a “high innovative project” that “exemplifies the type of infrastructure we need” given the “impacts of climate change” and “Russia’s immoral war on Ukraine”.

He added that climate change and the war in Ukraine “have demonstrated the need to make urgent progress on the move away from fossil fuels”.

Meanwhile, Nigel Reams, Managing Director of Lumcloon Energy, said the Shannonbridge B project will accelerate the decarbonisation of the Irish energy sector and will facilitate the increasing amount of renewables on the system.