Kilroot Power Station

When coal power generation stopped in September 2023, it was the second last coal-fired power station operating in Northern Ireland, (the one at the dupont site in Maydown Londonderry being the last, in whole of UK),and it had a 560 megawatt (MW) capacity from dual coal and oil fuelled generators. The station once produced a third of the country's electricity, and was also one of County Antrim's top 100 employers in 2010 (or before).

In 1992, the station was purchased by AES Corporation, as part of the privatisation of the state-owned Northern Ireland Electricity. In 2019 it was sold to a subsidiary of Energetický a průmyslový holding.

History

Kilroot power station was designed and built by Kennedy and Donkin, consultants for Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), commencing in 1974. The Cleveland Bridge Company also worked on the construction of the station. The station was originally designed to use four 300 megawatt (MW) generating units. Due to government spending restrictions in the early 1980s the project was truncated to two units. The station opened on 1 February 1981, when the first of the two generating unit went into operation. The plant was completed in 1982. The power station was originally fuelled by only oil, as it was the lowest cost fuel at the time. But following a change in generating policies in Northern Ireland in 1985 following the increase in oil prices, it was decided the plant would be converted to burn coal as well as oil. This conversion took place between 1986 and 1989, and the power station has burned almost exclusively only coal ever since.

The AES Corporation took over the station in a 50/50 partnership with Tractebel of Belgium in 1992 when NIE was privatised and sold its four power stations in Northern Ireland. Tractebel later sold their holding so that today Kilroot is solely run by AES.

In December 2005, AES was granted permission to install flue gas desulfurization (FGD) equipment at the station. This was to help the station meet the EU Large Combustion Plant Directive by January 2008.

Kilroot Power Limited opted into the Transitional National Plan of the Industrial Emissions Directive from 1 January 2016 to 30 June 2020. The Transitional National Plan allows the plant to pollute at a higher rate that would otherwise be permitted by EU rules as long as overall emissions for all participating plants are reduced each year.

In January 2018, Kilroot's failure to win a new contract under the Single Electricity Market threatened its closure by May. However, the plant owner AES had to apply to the Utility Regulator for a derogation to allow it to shut the plant, which has not been granted. Ballylumford was also affected, with the B station likely to close with the potential loss of 30 jobs.

In April 2019 AES Corporation has agreed to sell Kilroot to EP UK Investments, a subsidiary of Energetický a průmyslový holding. The transaction was finalized in June 2019.