Government plan for emergency power to avoid blackouts will cost €500m

A proposal to provide temporary emergency power at ESB’s North Wall power station in Dublin to avoid blackouts is set to cost over €500 million over a five-year period.

In September, An Bord Pleanála approved the 200MW temporary power generator at the ESB’s existing North Wall generation station on the southern side of Alexandra Road within Dublin Port.

Now, the contract tender award notice for the 200MW North Wall emergency power generator has stated that the Eirgrid contract with ESB Generation & Wholesale Markets over a five-year period has a value of €508.7 million, or a value of €357 million if the emergency power is required for only three years.

The ESB has confirmed that it is aiming to have the emergency power generation online in the final quarter of next year.

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Documents lodged with the planning application warned that “if the proposed development does not proceed, it is possible that power outages could occur in the absence of the proposed development unless emergency generation is provided at some other location due to the forecasted system demand”.

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In a separate boost to Government plans to avoid blackouts, An Bord Pleanála has ruled that an application for a 50MW gas fired temporary power generation plant at Energia’s Huntstown power station in north Dublin does not require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

A need to carry out an EIS would have slowed the process of formally putting plans before An Bord Pleanála.

The appeals board inspector’s report stated that the proposed development is required “in response to the national emergency relating to a forecasted shortfall in electricity supply for the next five winters”.

The report noted that the forecasted shortfalls for the next number of winters are: 260MW for 2022/2023, rising to 1050MW in 2023/24 and 1850MW in 2024/25.

The report stated that the shortfalls “are expected due to unexpected generator outages and delays in delivery of new gas fired generation capacity; limited interconnector support; poor plant performance and cold weather fronts with record peak electricity demand”.

“The proposed development is therefore a critical temporary emergency power generation and transmission asset, required as a direct response to addressing and mitigating national risk to power disruption, supply and demand,” the report said.

Documents lodged with An Bord Pleanála anticipate that the temporary power generator will run from summer 2023 to late 2027.

The board inspector in the case, Máire Daly concluded that an EIS is not required as the proposal would not be likely to have significant effects on the environment