Storm-damaged stack partially dismantled with Ballylumford Power Station operating at 60 per cent of capacity
Ballylumford Power Station is operating at 60 per cent capacity as work continues to repair a storm-damaged stack.
Significant damage was caused to one of the iconic chimneys at the Islandmagee site when Storm Darragh hit on December 7 of last year.
In an update on Tuesday (March 11), owners EP UK Investments said their teams of specialist contractors have been working diligently to ensure the safe restoration of operations at the plant.
The energy company added that significant progress has been made to date with the damaged stack now partially dismantled and made safe, with plans in place to rebuild it, allowing generation to be restored.
Craig Atkin, operations director, EPUKI NI, commented: ‘”Firstly, I would like to pay tribute to the EP team, and our contractors, for their efforts so far in dealing with this highly specialised operation.
"While our immediate concern was around the safety of staff and operations on site, we moved quickly to assess the damage and put a robust plan in place for remediation.
"We recognise that the storm resulted in the loss of generation and the ongoing need to minimise any disruption to electricity supply. A huge amount of work has been completed in the last three months to bring us closer to achieving the return of generating capacity from the impacted unit.
“Repairing structural damage to the chimney is an extremely complex task which originally required an extended outage to three generators.
"While the Ballylumford site is currently back operating at 60% overall capacity, subject to continued progress, we are planning for further generation at the site to be available from mid-April. We will continue to work with our key stakeholders and authorities as we seek to expedite this process.’”
EPUKI acquired Kilroot Power Station, Carrickfergus and Ballylumford Power Station from AES in June 2019. The latter includes 595MW of combined cycle turbines (comprising three generating units) and 116MW open cycle turbines (comprising two generating units).
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, the company said the Ballylumford site had been made temporarily unavailable to the System Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI), halting electricity generation as it assessed and safely addressed the damage.