 Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, TAQA, has today received approval from the Dutch Council of State for the development of the Bergermeer Gas Storage facility in the Netherlands.
TAQA and its project partner EBN can now commence construction of the gas storage, which involves use of a depleted gas reservoir. Dutch residents had raised a legal complaint, concernedthat the facility might bring about serious seismic hazard to the surrounding municipalities of Bergen, Heiloo and Schermer and the town of Alkmaar. Their legal case was dismissed.
TAQA says it will shortly commence preparatory work. Work on the well site will start after the meadow birds breeding season (in July).
With a working volume of 4.1 billion cubic metres (i.e. the average annual gas consumption of 2.5 million households in the Netherlands), the Bergermeer Gas Storage facility is intended to be the largest accessible gas storage facility in Europe, and crucial to the Netherlands’s plan to use its storage and transit potential after it stops exporting gas in 2025.
Bergermeer Gas Storage will double the capacity in the Netherlands for seasonal storage and make an important contribution to the development of the Netherlands’ ambition to become the Northwest European gas hub.
Natural gas is the cleanest of all the fossil energy fuels and is vital to future sustainability of the energy supply in the Netherlands.
TAQA and EBN will invest more than EUR 800 million in the drilling of 14 new wells, the construction of the gas treatment installation in Alkmaar and the intervening pipelines.
Bergermeer Gas Storage will give the development of the energy industry in the vicinity of Alkmaar a significant boost. In total, the installation of the gas storage facility will provide 3,300 man-years of work, 2,650 in the Netherlands.
