Overview. An investment of circa Euro 140m to finance the build of a reliable and sustainable power plant utilizing mostly local feedstocks on the former Asahi site near Ballina in County Mayo

Mayo Power Limited is pleased to announce that it has received conditional planning permission from Mayo County Council to construct a 100MWe mixed fuel Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Plant at the former Asahi site near Ballina in County Mayo. The project will be a high efficient CHP and will burn a combination of locally sourced peat from previously developed bogs, biomass (wood/energy crops) and a small proportion of coal – for technical purposes.

Key features of the project include:

  • Capital investment of up to Euro 200m into NW County Mayo – a region that has experienced population and economic decline. The project will create nearly 300 jobs during construction and provide full time employment for up to 70 people once the plant is commissioned and fully operational. The plant will provide a reliable and sustainable power and steam load sufficient to support the total demand of County Mayo and surrounding areas.
  • The core of the plant will be a state of the art circulating fluidized bed boiler – based on proven technology. This modern technology will be EU compliant in relation to emissions and will generate power and steam based on a flexible fuel mix of biomass (including energy crops) peat and coal.
  • The CHP plant will have the capability to achieve high thermal efficiencies compared to traditional coal/peat fired plants, subject to the size of the steam demand. The project will produce competitively priced steam and power and will act as an incentive for energy intensive businesses to move to the area.
  • The output from the plant will reinforce the transmission system in the area (one of the weakest on the Irish grid). In particular, the North West has limited thermal generating capacity but has seen a significant increase in the level of wind generation. A thermal plant in this area will offset the natural variability of wind, in terms of supplying power locally and providing reactive power support. It will also enable the future development of renewable energy in the region.
  • The project will purchase local feedstocks (biomass/energy crops/peat) – and will inject approximately Euro 25m per annum into the local economy.