Decarbonising Ireland's Gas Network

This event was organised in conjunction with Gas Networks Ireland Expert speakers discuss how Ireland can harness the potential of renewable gas production and anaerobic digestion to decarbonise the national gas network. As Ireland seeks to meet its green transition obligations, biomethane and other renewable gases could not only enable Ireland's decarbonisation, but also provide opportunities for exporting energy. At present, Ireland's national modern network can already transport biomethane and hydrogen and could be adapted to transport 100 percent green hydrogen in the future. This panel discusses the opportunities that renewable gas production and anaerobic digestion could provide for Ireland and how to remove obstacles to their use. About the Speakers: David Kelly is the Director of Customer and Business Development at Gas Networks Ireland. David has over twenty years of executive-level experience having worked extensively in both the private and public sectors throughout his career. Prior to being appointed to his current role, David was the Group Head of Customer Operations and Public Affairs for Ervia. JJ Lenehan is a Building Officer with Teagasc, the national body providing integrated research, advisory and training services to the agriculture and food industry and rural communities. Together with two colleagues he looks after technical property related issues at the 55 locations the organisation operates from across the country. He is an engineer by profession and has a special interest in energy use in Teagasc where the Built Environment accounts for the largest proportion of energy consumed at over 80% of the total. Teresa O’Flynn is a partner at Ara Partners and co-leads their infrastructure strategy. She has more than twenty years of sustainable investing expertise with extensive renewable power energy infrastructure experience, both in the fund management sector and at the operating company level. Teresa joined BlackRock in 2011 as a founding member of its Global Renewable Power Infrastructure business. In 2019, she became Global Head of Sustainable Investing for BlackRock’s Alternatives investment platform. Prior to joining BlackRock, Teresa worked for NTR plc, a private infrastructure developer, across several of the group’s European and US wind development subsidiaries. Christian Bendrup Faurholt is a project manager for the annual report of security of supply in the Danish gas system. He is also Energinet’s Associated Activities country lead for projects in India, Vietnam, and Poland and a project manager for Energinet’s Long Term Development Plan for the Danish gas and electricity systems. Christian holds a degree in international relations and is specialised in climate diplomacy and the Paris Agreement. Caoimhe Giblin is Managing Director, Commercial at ElectroRoute. There, she is a member of the senior management team and leads ElectroRoute’s commercial origination and trading operation teams. Caoimhe has worked in the energy sector for over 15 years and sits on the Council of Wind Energy Ireland. She was formerly Director of Finance at SSE Renewables where she had responsibility for the financial activities of SSE plc’s extensive on and off-shore wind development and construction portfolio. A qualified Chartered Accountant, Caoimhe spent 6 years working with KPMG in Dublin and New Zealand. Caoimhe is a graduate Dublin City University, where she obtained a Degree and Masters in Accountancy.