Production has been temporarily halted at Lough Ree Power Station as of today, Wednesday, April 15, the ESB has confirmed.
In a statement to AgriLand, a spokesperson for the ESB explained:
“To ensure compliance with its environmental licence obligations, Lough Ree Power is temporarily not generating electricity.
Due to recent weather conditions the rate of flow in the River Shannon has reduced significantly and, as a result, the plant has been taken off load.
This, the representative said, is required to ensure that the downstream river temperatures do not increase by more than 1.5° above the upstream reference intake temperature.
“ESB will monitor this issue closely and the plant will return to service as soon as it is appropriate.
“Due to market rules and commercial sensitivity, ESB cannot provide any further comment on the operation of the plant,” the spokesperson concluded.
2019 closure and reopening
The matter follows on from last July, when the peat-fired power station in Lanesboro, Co. Longford, was forced to lay off hundreds of workers after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated legal proceedings because it deemed the temperature of cooling water being discharged from the facility into the river to be too high.
The ESB was able to reopen Lough Ree after two months, in September with electricity carried out at “prudent levels” in order to meet obligations under an environmental licence.