Gas storage permitted in the Bergermeer area

AMSTERDAM – Permission has been given for a gas storage reservoir in the Bergermeer area near Alkmaar. That was decreed by the Council of State on Wednesday.

Opponents believed that too little research had been done into the risks of the underground storage reservoir, but that claim was rejected by the Council of State. No appeal can be lodged against the judgement.

Opponents of the storage plans, such as Friends of the Earth Netherlands [Milieudefensie] among others, fear that damage as a consequence of a possible earthquake has been underestimated.

What is more, studies of the negative consequences have produced differing results and there are doubts about the safety of the natural gas wells.

Earthquake

The Council of State decided that, although there are some unclear and uncertain issues relating to the storage, the plan can still go ahead.

The ruling states that, ‘Although experts cannot give a realistic estimate of the probability of an earthquake, that probability is not, in any event, considered to be greater than during the period when gas was extracted at the Bergermeer site’.

Construction

Gas company TAQA Energy is soon going to start work to prepare for the construction of the gas storage reservoir which should be in use in mid 2014.

The company was pleased with the decision. “The decision is the culmination of a careful process whereby the gas storage reservoir is being incorporated into the environment in the best possible way. TAQA has taken numerous measures to implement the project in a safe and responsible way and to avoid any inconvenience wherever possible”, explains director Jan Willem van Hoogstraten.

Gas is going to be stored at the reservoir in the summer for use in the winter. This will prevent any shortage of gas and price rises in cold periods, such as in February of this year.

With a volume of 4.1 billion cubic metres the storage reservoir in Bergermeer will be the largest freely accessible gas storage reservoir in Europe.