Moneypoint survived howling gales of Atlantic – but not the winds of change
Plans are afoot to convert Clare plant to clean energy hub
THE chimney was the first structure to be completed on the Moneypoint site in 1985, a feat of engineering celebrated by ministers in hard hats unfurling a triumphant Tricolour at its top.
At 731 feet high, it needed six inches of sway built in to cope with gusts and at times over the almost 40 years since, it has used every one of them.
But though it withstood Atlantic gales, it couldn’t survive the winds of change.
The chimney, and its partner stack built soon after, will be demolished when Moneypoint’s time as a coal-burning power station comes to an end in 2025.
There were fresh celebrations as ESB unveiled its plans for the west Clare plant last Friday.
Rebranded ‘Green Atlantic at Moneypoint’, it will become a clean energy hub – a base for off-shore wind and hydrogen fuel projects that will put it at the forefront of the country’s renewable energy transformation.
But while there was much applause for this leap into the low-carbon future, there was also fond reflection on the old Moneypoint.
“Some of my best friends are Moneypoint babies,” says Rita McInerney of McInerney’s shop 15 minutes’ drive away in Doonbeg where a large number of the plant’s 420 newly arrived workers settled.
“Some of our most active community members are the Moneypoint people. They wanted to make the place their home and it was very valuable to building communities like Doonbeg.
“Moneypoint was the economic driver of west Clare but the impact was much wider than that.”
As one of many gestures to the community, Kilrush, the closest village, was gifted a football field, running track and tennis courts, and local children still line out for Moneypoint AFC.
“There was talk of getting a swimming pool,” Rita laughs. “Maybe it’ll happen yet.”
Michael Clair, a chemical technician at the plant until he retired last year, was heavily involved in the football and the sports and social club.
“It was a way of helping people to make friends because with that size of a workforce, it was hard to know everybody,” hesays.
Firm friendships formed and the sense of camaraderie was strong.
“It was a great place to work. Everybody was young and it was a really exciting,” he says.
“It was full belt all the time because it was supplying 30pc of the electricity needs of the country, but you didn’t mind because there was great pride in the work.
“Even when we had trouble, there were always megawatts going out.”
It wasn’t long, however, before the collective pride began taking a battering.
Even before Moneypoint opened in 1985, EU air quality laws were being drawn up that meant the chimneys would have insufficient control over the emissions of nitrogen and sulphur that resulted from burning two million tonnes of coal a year.
After spending €900m to build the plant, there was no appetite for further spending to future-proof it, but by 2005, the issue could no longer be avoided.
The choice was to spend up to €400m on high-tech scrubbers, or close the plant.
The decision was made to proceed, even though by then, emissions of another kind were becoming the chief concern.
Moneypoint was producing five million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year – 7.5pc of the national total – and with climate change inching its way on to the political agenda, it was an obvious target.
“We were identified as being the single biggest polluter in the country,” Clair recalls. “Once that came out, we were all looking over our shoulders.”
As a shop steward for the union, he had to handle difficult negotiations while the plant’s workforce was reduced.
But he still looks back happily on the vital role Moneypoint played in powering the country.
“The site is a major State asset, which is not always how it has been portrayed. Hopefully with the new plans, it will be seen as an asset again.”
The planned investment is enormous, running to multiple billions, and so are the projects which will require engineering technology never before seen in Ireland.
Clare TD Michael McNamara is optimistic, however, that it can succeed.
“Ardnacrusha was pioneering when it was first built,” he says, referring to the ESB’s hydroelectric scheme on the Shannon, at the time of its construction in the 1920s the biggest of its kind in the world. “So hope springs eternal.”
Rita McInerney is also hopeful for what Green Atlantic could bring, in terms of prosperity, security and more Moneypoint babies.
“My concern at the minute is for the people who had the spin-off jobs – the people supplying food, cleaning services, waste collection, the shops and cafés.
“All that has been lost and it could be a while before there is significant employment on the site again to generate that spin-off.
“But long-term, there is huge potential. That’s vital because there’s nothing else in the area only the Trump hotel and it’s been closed because of Covid and Trump is having his own troubles.
“We’re forever vilified in west Clare – for welcoming Trump on the one hand and burning coal on the other. It’ll be good to be known for something positive.”