Gordon Deegan
The €368 million clean-up of Moneypoint power station is to start in the first quarter of next year.
The manager of the plant, Mr Joe Hodgins, said the €250 million contract to install the technology to reduce emissions at Moneypoint has been won by a German company.
Last month, the Government sanctioned the spending after the ESB board approved the business plan put forward by the company's executive for the station's continued operation.
The coal-fired power plant on the Shannon Estuary produces one-fifth of the country's electricity, but it is one of the largest polluters in the State, emitting 40,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and 22,000 tonnes of nitrogen oxide (NOx) into the atmosphere each year.
In order to operate past 2008 to comply with EU regulations, the station has to cut emissions by 80 per cent, and the Government's decision to give the go ahead to the investment secures the station's future until 2025.
It also provides west Clare with an economic boost during the three-year construction period between 2005 and 2008, when 150 people will work at different times putting the technology in place.
When the project becomes operational, €10 million will then be spent annually on consumables and plant maintenance, while the decision to keep Moneypoint open secures an annual €10.5 million Clare County Council receives in rates from the station each year.
The company has also received planning permission for a €20 million wind farm at the power station site, and Mr Hodgins also confirmed yesterday that construction on that project was to start next year.
The nine-turbine wind farm is to feed directly into a local grid that will provide electricity to 20,000 homes in Co Clare.