Emergency Shannonbridge power plant misses winter season
Emergency generating capacity planned by the ESB for the former Shannonbridge Power Station site did not come on stream for this winter season as planned.
The 262MW temporary facility was given the go-ahead in April last, as part of a national blueprint to combat potential winter power shortages.
When first revealed, the project, which is being progressed by the ESB, was due to be available to the national grid this winter.
And in August last, the ESB confirmed it was to commence operation “for the coming 2023/2024 winter season”.
However, this week, the ESB said it is now expected that the new plant would be connected to the system “in phases in the first half of 2024”.
In a statement to the Offaly Independent, the company said “plans to install 262 MW of temporary emergency generation on this site are progressing well”. It added that the facility, known as Shannonbridge TEG 2, had made “rapid construction progress since last summer”.
The Commission for for Regulation of Utilities in 2022 indicated that if the proposed emergency generation (in Shannonbridge and elsewhere) did not proceed, there would be a clear risk that power outages could occur.
The Shannonbridge facility includes eight gas turbine units, fuelled by diesel oil, eight 30-metre tall steel exhaust stacks and two 110kV generator step-up transformers.
The ESB statement explained: “As set out by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), this capacity is temporary is nature, will be used for system emergencies only and will not be an active participant in the wholesale electricity market.
“At the point in time when new enduring capacity has removed the need for temporary emergency generation, the plant will cease operation and will be removed from the site.”
When given the go-ahead by Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan it was indicated that the temporary generation capacity would be in place until 2027, with provision in the legislation to extend to 2028.