An Irish power generation arm of SSE has received a cumulative €39.5 million in insurance payouts over two years arising from incidents at its power stations at Tarbert in Co Kerry and Great Island in Co Wexford.
New accounts filed by SSE Generation Ireland Ltd which that the gain from insurance receipts of €6.33 million mainly connected to Tarbert for 2025 contributed to the firm recording operating profits of €52.27 million in the 12 months to the end of March.
The accounts show operating profits at the Scottish-owned SSE Generation Ireland more than halved to €52.27 million in the 12 months to the end of March last as revenues plunged by 54 per cent to €346.13 million during the period.
The energy firm’s pretax profits declined 35 per cent to €79.88 million as it benefited from higher net interest payments of €27.6 million last year.
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The directors said the decrease of gross profit and operating profit “is due to reduced income from hedging activities and lower spark prices”.
On the exceptional gains arising from the successful insurance claims, the accounts show that SSE Generation received €6.24 million under the heading of ‘Tarbert fire insurance receipts’ last year.
A note states that the insurance receipt arose from damage caused by a fire in the 2023 financial year.
In addition, SSE Generation Ireland in the prior year received an insurance payout of €33.18 million due to the business interruption caused by the Great Island condenser leak at the Co Wexford power station in the 2023 financial year.
The firm received an additional €83,000 in insurance receipts from condenser leak last year.
The company’s principal activity is the generation of electricity from three operational power stations located at Great Island, Rhode in Co Offaly and Tawnaghmore in Co Mayo which have a combined generation capacity of 672MW.
Tarbert station closed at the end of 2023.
The company is currently constructing two Open-cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) plants in Tarbert and Platin in Co Meath with combined capacity of 470MW.
Numbers employed declined from 91 to 85 as staff costs reduced from €11.34m to €9.65m.
