Kilroot gas turbine delay raises energy supply concerns

Market: Coal
25/09/23

The 513MW EP-operated Kilroot coal-fired power plant in Northern Ireland will go ahead with its planned closure on 30 September despite new gas turbines not arriving in time, raising concerns about Northern Ireland's energy security this winter.

EP confirmed to Argus that Kilroot will close as planned in line with the notice issue to grid operator Soni in September 2020.

"There is a delay in the delivery of… gas turbines… to coincide with the retirement of the existing coal units," Soni said. The operator's assessment of supply for the upcoming winter period subsequently "point to an increased risk" because of "buffer margins for electricity generation being tighter than normal standards", Soni said.

But the likelihood of "any mass, unplanned blackouts in Northern Ireland remains very low and highly unlikely" as "there will be sufficient generation available to meet consumer demand" in the event of expected operating conditions, Soni said.

Soni said it is able to pull on several levers to ensure supply meets demand. This includes generation from smaller gas turbines, batteries and "maximising the availability of imports from Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland".

Soni will work with partners and the generator to accelerate the delivery of the two new turbines, it sai.

Kilroot generated just 20MW from January–August this year, down from 240MW last year, data from research institute Fraunhofer ISE show.

Coal-fired generation represented 9.8pc of Northern Ireland's total generation from September 2022-August 2023, according to data from Irish grid operator EirGrid. Gas-fired generation represented 50.4pc, renewables 37.3pc and total power imports 2.4pc.

Coal imports into Belfast also fell in the first eight months of this year. Arrivals at Belfast from January-August fell by 33.7pc on the year to 284,000t, all of which arrived from Puerto Brisas and Puerto Nuevo in Colombia, shipping data show.

Soni will publish its winter outlook and generation capacity statement in the next few weeks.

By Evan Millard

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