Energia selling 90% of Huntstown output in State

Energia, the Dublin-based subsidiary of Viridian, is now selling 90 per cent of the electricity produced at its plant in Huntstown to industrial customers in the Republic.

Viridian said Energia, which opened last November, had signed contracts with customers for 90 per cent of output, with the remainder exported to Northern Ireland.

The Huntstown gas-fired plant is capable of producing 350 megawatts of power and, if planning permission is granted, the plant could move up to 600 megawatts. Energia has aggressively targeted large industrial customers who may have been previously supplied by ESB.

Viridian will announce its results to the year ending March 31st in mid-May and the company said yesterday they would be in line with expectations.

A statement said Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), its largest subsidiary, continued to perform well following the introduction of new price controls. Viridian said these controls were expected to be extended until March 2007 based on a recent consultation paper issued by the regulator, Ofreg.

The company has made some board changes recently, with Mr Harry McCracken becoming group managing director of Viridian Power and Energy. Mr Laurence McKenzie will take over responsibility for NIE's transmission and distribution business and for NIE Powerteam.

Sx3, Viridian's IT business, which has experienced problems in the past year, continued to recover and was performing in line with budget, said the statement. Last month Sx3 appointed Mr Geoff Neville as managing director. He previously worked for Logica CMG.

Viridian said that, because of poor returns in the equity markets and low bond yields, the pension fund would see a deficit (net of tax) of £130 million sterling (€191.5 million) as of March 31st. However, the company did not outline how much the pension fund overall was worth.

In relation to dividends it said: "The group reaffirms its intention to deliver real dividend growth across the current regulatory period."

It said the disposal of the Moyle interconnector to a not-for-profit organisation would conclude shortly.

Meanwhile, in a submission to the Commission on Energy Regulation, one of the biggest customers in the State, Aughinish Alumina has urged the regulator to alter the electricity market from a position where one dominant player "dwarfs all other participants".

The submission on future trading arrangements for electricity said unless this position is addressed future trading arrangements would not be effective. Several large electricity players have made submissions on the issue, which deals with how individual stations will sell their power into the national grid in future.