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Released February 05, 2018 | GALWAY, IRELAND
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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--One of Ireland's largest power generators, Viridian Power (Belfast, Northern Ireland), is preparing to close two power plants in the country's capital city Dublin in May.
Viridian warned that the closure of the Huntstown 1 and 2 gas-fired plants, which have a combined generating capacity of 747 megawatts (MW), will impact the security of power supplies in Dublin. The company said the decision came about after one of the plants failed to win a contract for supply in the first all-island capacity power auctions carried out by the country's state-owned grid operator EirGrid and SONI (System Operator for Northern Ireland). The plants are capable of supplying enough power for 1.5 million homes, or 20% of Ireland's electricity needs. Viridian has issued protective notice to its 40 staff in Huntstown in north Dublin. Industrial Info is tracking two planned maintenance outage contracts scheduled for the third quarter this year which may be impacted by the shut down.
"Eirgrid and SONI, the joint system operators of the electricity market in Ireland, have today announced the outcome of the first transitional auction for capacity in the new Integrated Single Electricity Market (ISEM)," Viridian said in a statement. "The auction has resulted in Huntstown 1 being awarded a reliability option contract but Huntstown 2 has not been awarded such a contract. As the new I-SEM market will not adequately remunerate the Huntstown plants from 23 May 2018 Viridian has placed relevant Huntstown staff on protective notice of redundancy for an initial period of eight weeks."
The ISEM auction attracted bids from 100 power plant operators north and south of the border, with 93 being successful. EirGrid stated that even with Viridian's planned closures "there is adequate capacity to meet the security of supply standard in the Dublin area...for the period May 2018 to September 2019, the period covered by the auction."
Rodney Doyle, market operations director for EirGrid, commented on the recent auction results: "Our priority is to ensure that a secure electricity supply on the Island of Ireland is delivered at the least possible cost to consumers. The Integrated Single Electricity Market (ISEM) was designed to replace the current Single Electricity Market. It is designed to deliver increased levels of competition as well as encouraging greater levels of security of supply. The Regulatory authorities have estimated that the auction process will result in savings to consumers of approximately 200 million euro across the island."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.
Viridian warned that the closure of the Huntstown 1 and 2 gas-fired plants, which have a combined generating capacity of 747 megawatts (MW), will impact the security of power supplies in Dublin. The company said the decision came about after one of the plants failed to win a contract for supply in the first all-island capacity power auctions carried out by the country's state-owned grid operator EirGrid and SONI (System Operator for Northern Ireland). The plants are capable of supplying enough power for 1.5 million homes, or 20% of Ireland's electricity needs. Viridian has issued protective notice to its 40 staff in Huntstown in north Dublin. Industrial Info is tracking two planned maintenance outage contracts scheduled for the third quarter this year which may be impacted by the shut down.
"Eirgrid and SONI, the joint system operators of the electricity market in Ireland, have today announced the outcome of the first transitional auction for capacity in the new Integrated Single Electricity Market (ISEM)," Viridian said in a statement. "The auction has resulted in Huntstown 1 being awarded a reliability option contract but Huntstown 2 has not been awarded such a contract. As the new I-SEM market will not adequately remunerate the Huntstown plants from 23 May 2018 Viridian has placed relevant Huntstown staff on protective notice of redundancy for an initial period of eight weeks."
The ISEM auction attracted bids from 100 power plant operators north and south of the border, with 93 being successful. EirGrid stated that even with Viridian's planned closures "there is adequate capacity to meet the security of supply standard in the Dublin area...for the period May 2018 to September 2019, the period covered by the auction."
Rodney Doyle, market operations director for EirGrid, commented on the recent auction results: "Our priority is to ensure that a secure electricity supply on the Island of Ireland is delivered at the least possible cost to consumers. The Integrated Single Electricity Market (ISEM) was designed to replace the current Single Electricity Market. It is designed to deliver increased levels of competition as well as encouraging greater levels of security of supply. The Regulatory authorities have estimated that the auction process will result in savings to consumers of approximately 200 million euro across the island."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.
