NEW POWER PLANT
SSE is developing a proposal for a 208MW peaker power generation plant at Platin on land owned by the company.
The development will comprise of four open cycle gas turbine units, each fully enclosed in their own housing, associated stepup grid transformer units, and a 110kV transmission substation which will connect the generation plant to the national electricity 110kV transmission system.
The company says, ‘ The proposed development would provide strategic support to the national electricity system during peak times, and so would assist in
ensuring and maintaining security of supply in the region, providing electricity backup at times when customer demand exceeds generation supply.’
Planning permission to use the Platin site for power generation has previously been granted by both Meath County Council and An Bord Pleanála on three prior occasions. Previously approved developments on the site have included a 400MW combined cycle gas turbine power generation plant and a 60MW peaker power generation plant.
They add, ‘SSE expects to submit two separate applications for planning permission to Meath County Council and An Bord Pleanála in respect of the development – one application to Meath County Council for the generation plant and one application to An Bord Pleanála for the substation via its Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID) process.
‘It should be noted that An Bord Pleanála has the power to direct that the entire development be submitted to the Board for permission/approval as a single application via its Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID) process. Should this occur, SSE will inform the community of this change and advise the community of the process associated with the revised consenting route.
‘Emissions from the site will be generated from the combustionof distillate oil, which is used to power the gas turbines. A full air dispersion computer model of the emissions has been completed. A number of mitigation measures will be implemented during the construction and operational phases of the plant to ensure that atmospheric emissions do not have any significant adverse impact on ambient air quality.’
The company say the construction period will run for approximately 18 months. During this period the majority of construction personnel vehicles will arrive to site prior to morning rush hour and leave after evening rush hour.
‘A Construction Management Plan will be developed to effectively manage traffic movements to and from the site, as well as other relevant environmental aspects of the construction phase. Once operational, the peaker power generation plant will be run under automated control and will be minimally attended. The average daily traffic is anticipated to be approximately three passenger cars and five heavy goods vehicles to and from the site per day. During peak operational periods this may increase to a maximum of five passenger cars and nine heavy goods vehicles. A deceleration lane will be put in place on the R152 for traffic turning left into the site from the direction of Drogheda.’
They add that as with all SSE developments, there will also be opportunities for local community funding.