ESB’s Powerteam works with parent’s rival

Powerteam, the engineering business that the ESB acquired when it bought Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) for €1.2 billion in 2011, seems happy to work for its parent's energy market rivals.

The company is in the final stages of building a sub-station for a Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) wind farm at Athea, near Abbeyfeale in Co Limerick.

According to a statement, Powerteam was responsible for the design of the substation which will connect the 16 turbine wind farm to the electricity grid, along with the procurement, installation, testing and commissioning.

The station will hook the 16-turbine wind farm up to the national grid. The farm will bring SSE’s total wind portfolio in Ireland to 500 mega watts of electricity, slightly more capacity than one average-sized gas-fired plant.

Powerteam’s managing director, Alastair Dawson, said that the Athea project is the company’s seventh for SSE and pointed out that it also worked on one nearby at Dromada for the same company in 2010.

“We are delighted to be part of the Athea project which builds upon our relationship with SSE both in the UK and Ireland,” he said.

Powerteam started out as part of NIE, but now it is part of the overall ESB empire.

SSE, which owns the windfarm, competes with the ESB to supply electricity and natural gas to businesses and homes around the country, and in fact, is redeveling.

Just this week last year, it bought four former ESB-owned sites and is building, modern, gas-fired plants at two of them, Great Island in Co Wexford and Tarbert in Co Kerry.