Kilroot gas turbine delay raises energy supply concerns

: Coal
23/09/25

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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24/11/22

Opinion: Bridging the divide

Cop summits put the gap between developed and developing countries in stark relief and demand a strong moderator Baku, 22 November (Argus) — The UN's Cop climate summits always involve a high-stakes test of multilateralism. But the Cop 29 gathering that is crawling towards its conclusion in Baku this week has pushed this concept to its limit. The summit faced serious challenges even before it kicked off. Azerbaijan took on the presidency relatively late in the day and the country's president, Ilham Aliyev, irritated some delegates with an opening speech that lauded oil and gas as a "gift from God" and railed against "western fake news". His comments on European nations' Pacific island territories prompted France's energy minister to boycott the talks, while the Cop chief executive was caught on film trying to facilitate fossil fuel deals. And the broader geopolitical background for the gathering was, of course, "grim", as EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra noted, even before delegates tackled the summit's key discussion topic — money. At the heart of this year's Cop is the need to agree a new climate finance goal — a hugely divisive subject at the best of times. Discussions start with countries' wealth, take into account historical responsibility for emissions, and often end up with accusations of neocolonialism and calls for reparations. Figuring out who pays for what is crucial to advancing any kind of meaningful energy transition — and is hence a regular Cop sticking point. Developing countries have long argued that they are not able to decarbonise or implement energy transition plans without adequate financing, and they are prepared to hold other issues hostage to achieve this. Equally, developed countries will not budge on finance until stronger emissions cuts are pledged. Cop summits throw the developed/developing world divide into stark relief as well as shine an unforgiving light on weak management and oversight of Cop debate — an event where every country has an equal vote and needs a strong moderator to bridge that deepening developed and developing world division. This year's summit falls between two much more heavily-hyped Cops, and next year's host Brazil has already taken centre stage, boosted by also holding the G20 presidency. Cop 29 president Mukhtar Babayev asked Brazil and 2021 host the UK to help ensure a balanced outcome, while a strong focus on climate at this week's G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro lent some support to discussions in Baku. More challenges loom. US president-elect Donald Trump has threatened to pull the US — the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter — out of the UN Paris Agreement for a second time, and there are fears that fellow G20 member Argentina might quit too. But the Cop process has dealt with some of these challenges before — it is built to withstand a term or two of an unsympathetic world leader, and any exits from the Paris accord could galvanise others to step up their policy commitments, several delegates in Baku suggest. And the issue overshadowing it all — and the reason nearly 200 countries still turn up each year — is not going away. The world has already warmed by around 1.3°C above pre-industrial levels and this year is set to smash last year's record as the hottest. Leaders from both developed and developing countries spoke of catastrophic floods, droughts, heatwaves and storms. It has become a truism, but when it comes to the tricky issue of money, the only thing more daunting than the cost of tackling climate change is the cost of ignoring it. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Japan’s Taketoyo to resume biomass co-firing in 2027

24/11/22

Japan’s Taketoyo to resume biomass co-firing in 2027

Tokyo, 22 November (Argus) — Japan's largest electricity producer Jera aims to resume coal and biomass co-firing at the 1.1GW Taketoyo plant in 2027's first quarter, after a fire halted plant operations in January. Jera announced on 22 November that the thermal power plant in central Japan's Aichi prefecture would resume co-firing wood pellets with coal at a rate of 8pc, around the end of the 2026-27 fiscal year ending in March. This will come after its safety measures are completed. The plant's co-firing rate was 17pc before the serious fire, which was caused by an explosion of dust from wood pellets. The company will consider increasing the co-firing rate again in the future, provided safety can be ensured. But the plant will restart coal-only combustion in early January 2025, operating mainly during the summer and winter seasons, when electricity demand is high. Jera will keep operation rates low at Taketoyo and other coal-fired plants when electricity demand is low and rely more on gas-fired generation, to achieve its initial plan to cut CO2 emissions through co-firing at Taketoyo. Taketoyo started co-firing operations in August 2022 and burned around 500,000 t/yr of wood pellets imported from the US and Vietnam. It will burn 200,000 t/yr after it resumes co-firing at 8pc. The plant will slow down the speed of wood pellet conveyors to reduce friction as a part of safety measures, which means it must also reduce its coal and biomass co-firing rate. It is also currently working on other safety measures, such as installing air pressure conveying facilities dedicated to wood pellets and explosion suppressor systems to inject fire extinguishing agents. The outage at Taketoyo has encouraged Jera to boost replacement gas-fired generation, with the extra gas-fired costs accounting for most of the estimated cost resulting from the shutdown, which could be tens of billion yen in the 2024-25 fiscal year ending in March. By Takeshi Maeda Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Cost of government support for fossil fuels still high

24/11/21

Cost of government support for fossil fuels still high

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Cop: Australia backs no new coal power call: Correction

24/11/20

Cop: Australia backs no new coal power call: Correction

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Indonesia advances coal-fired power phase-out to 2040

24/11/20

Indonesia advances coal-fired power phase-out to 2040

London, 20 November (Argus) — Indonesia plans to retire all coal-fired power plants within the next 15 years, advancing an earlier target of 2056, President Prabowo Subianto said today. This follows from Subianto's address at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 19 November, where he emphasised the importance of global collaboration to achieve green energy transition. He also claimed Indonesia is optimistic it can reach net zero emissions before 2050, a decade ahead of its previous commitment. "We plan to build more than 75GW of renewable energy in the next 15 years [to replace coal-fired power]," Subianto added. His claims come at a time when Indonesia's deputy minister of energy and mineral resources (ESDM) Yuliot Tanjung admitted in a speech today that the country's reliance on coal for electricity is still high. Tanjung said the country has huge potential for solar and hydropower generation, owing to its geographical location, but they require technological developments and large investment. Indonesia has the world's fifth-largest operating coal-fired power capacity of 52.31GW, with about 9.81GW more under construction, according to Global Energy Monitor data. Only about 15pc of Indonesia's total installed generation capacity of more than 90GW is currently powered by renewables. New coal-fired projects have continued to be proposed this year, despite the Indonesian government's previous commitment in 2021 to stop building new coal-fired plants after 2023. In addition to power generation, coal is also heavily utilised in Indonesian industry, which contributed to domestic coal production reaching a record 720mn t so far this year. Indonesia could also be on track for a new output record this year, with ESDM expecting 2024 output to surpass 800mn t, up from 775mn t in 2023, if the current output trend continues for the rest of this year. Indonesia and the Philippines are the two most coal-reliant countries in southeast Asia, according to energy think-tank Ember. By Ashima Sharma Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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