Firefighters tackle power plant blast

FIVE fire appliances raced to Londonderry Port last night after an explosion in a boiler room at a power plant.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said four fire engines plus a specialised aerial appliance were sent to Lisahally biomass power plant just after 7.30pm.

No-one was injured. Assistant Group Commander Mark Watson said there had been an explosion on the seventh floor of the building caused by the rupturing of a steam pipe.

He added that there had been some damage caused to the aluminium cladding of the building, and that a full damage assessment would be carried out this morning.

Equipment failure is suspected as the cause of the incident, but this too will be subject to further investigation by experts.

Thirty-fire firefighters were engaged in dealing with the incident.

All had left the scene by 10.30pm.

Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan tweeted: “Good news that nobody was injured as result of incident at biomass plant at Lisahally. Great work by NIFRS.”

The Lisahally biomass power plant is owned by Evermore Energy, run by brothers Ciaran and Stephen Devine.

Opened in 2016, the £83m, 15.8MW biomass power plant is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland. It sells energy directly into the grid, and provides power for around 30,000 homes and businesses.

Evermore is also planning a more ambitious project — a £280m gas power plant based at Belfast Harbour.