Risk of power cuts as demand hits record levels

The risk of power cuts could increase this winter as demand for electricity grows and ageing generating plants come under pressure.

The news comes as, in a separate development, the all-Ireland power market launches today, with generators and suppliers from both sides of the Border trading electricity through a common pool.

Demand for electricity in the Republic hit a record 5,035 megawatts (MW), enough power for roughly five million homes, for a period on Tuesday, December 19th, last year. At the time, there were another 300MW in reserve.

A spokesman for the Republic's national grid operator, Eirgrid, said yesterday the 300MW margin could be eroded this winter if demand hits similar highs to that record.

However, he pointed out that a new power plant began producing an extra 400MW of electricity at Huntstown in Dublin last month. He stressed that Eirgrid was confident the system could cope with winter peaks in demand.

The problem is that the number of breakdowns and unexpected halts in power generation - known as "outages" - in three older power plants has increased over the last two months.

At the same time, demand is increasing by at least 3 per cent a year, indicating that the 2006 record could be reached or broken this winter.

Eirgrid originally expected that the margin between peak demand and the available power would increase this winter as the Viridian-owned Huntstown plant came on stream.

However, the rate of breakdown at the three older plants, operated by State-owned generator and supplier ESB, has increased since August, when Eirgrid predicted that the reserve margin would increase. Many of the plants operated by the ESB, Ireland's biggest power supplier, are reaching the end of their useful lives.

The Government has not allowed the State company to reinvest in its generating capacity in a bid to attract competing players to the Republic.

The total generating capacity of the Republic's power stations is more than 6,000MW, but plants have to shut down at intervals for maintenance and other reasons.

Eirgrid warned in July that power station availability in the Republic during 2006 fell short of the required standard.

On average, each electricity generating plant was available 78 days out of every 100 during the year. However, industry practice demands 88 per cent availability.

Eirgrid's spokesman explained that the situation could be helped by the fact that under the single market system, generators will receive payments for making their plants available to produce power.

These are designed as incentives to attract new investment, and to maximise plant availability.

The single market will be operated by a joint venture between Eirgrid and its Northern counterpart, System Operator Northern Ireland. Under the system, generators such as the ESB's power generating division, Huntstown Power and Airtricity, will each bid to supply power to the pool at a wholesale price for each half-hour period in the day.

The system is designed so that the wholesale price paid during periods of low demand is at the lower end of the scale, while it will increase as demand goes up.