Ireland is to have a new electricity generating station under the EU deregulated power market, the terms of which will come into effect next February.
The £50 million (€63.5 million) power station will be developed by Pharos Energy Ireland, Cork BV, a subsidiary of Electriciteitsbedrijf Zuid-Holland (EZH), which is about to become part of the German company PreussenElektra, the largest privately owned electricity generating company in Europe. It is expected that the new power generating company may be in operation within the next two years.
Mr Willem Smit, managing director of Pharos, said in Cork yesterday that the opportunities presented by the deregulation of the electricity market provided a very attractive opportunity for his company due to Ireland's strong and continuing financial growth coupled with a pending shortfall in energy production.
For this reason, Pharos had established a new company - Pharos Energy Ireland Cork BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of EZH - to develop a multi-utility centre to sell electricity and steam together with gas in the near future. The new company, once details had been agreed with the local authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency, would be based at Ringaskiddy in Cork harbour, which is home to the largest concentration of pharmaceutical/chemical companies in the State.
Following yesterday's announcement, land purchase as well as formal applications to Cork County Council and the Environmental Protection Agency for an integrated pollution control licence will be made. The company has promised openness and consultation with local interested bodies in the Ringaskiddy area. A formal application has already been submitted to the ESB for connection to the national grid - a move required under the rules of the deregulated market.
Mr Smit said the company had noted that the demand for electricity in the Cork Harbour area had increased by 48 per cent in the past three years and that the ESB had problems with delivery of power supplies to a growing industrial market. His company would focus on industrial consumers rather than the residential sector.
