RENEWABLE energy firm Gaelectric has been given nearly €6.5 million (£5 million) of European money to help meet the cost of building a compressed air energy storage (CAES) unit in Larne.
The European Union has agreed to provide financing of up to €6.47 million towards the £300 million scheme, which has already been included as a Project of Common Interest (PCI) under the EU programme to promote transboundary energy infrastructure.
The unit will store energy in the form of compressed air in specially-engineered caverns created within geological salt deposits under the sea bed.
Gaelectric say the project could boost economic activity in the north by £161 million and lead to more than 500 new jobs.
The facility would use excess energy from the grid and store it to be used when required.
The EU cash - made as part of the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF) - will be applied in meeting the costs of environmental impact assessment and planning activities, as well as front-end engineering design for the project.
The awarding committee said: “This project will contribute to market integration, renewable energy input and system security in both Ireland and the UK (Northern Ireland).
"The project is technologically innovative and has the potential to be replicated in other parts of the EU with suitable geological conditions.”
Brendan McGrath, chief executive of Gaelectric, said: “The opinion and recommendation from the CEF co-ordinating committee is a further endorsement of the Larne CAES project.
"It follows its designation as a Project of Common Interest in 2013 and the growing recognition among policy makers and energy stakeholders of the vital role that large scale energy storage must play in integrating increasing amounts of renewable energy within modern power systems."
He added: "The Larne CAES project is the only storage PCI in the United Kingdom and Europe. Larne and Northern Ireland will become the blueprint for CAES storage and the integration of renewable energy sources across the rest of the Continent."
The Larne CAES Project is designed to store energy in the form of compressed air and to release this energy to transmission system operators generating up to 330 MW for periods of up to six hours duration.
Gaelectric are expected to submit a planning application for the project this autumn hope to have it "shovel ready" by the end of 2016.
