The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, today officially opened ESB's 435 new megawatts gas-fired station at Aghada, Co Cork.  The station, close to Midleton in East Cork, now has the capacity to generate 963 megawatts of electricity. It is Ireland's largest power station and ranks among the most efficient electricity generators in Europe.

Eighty people are to be employed in the operation of the station and the new plant cost €360 million to build and provided 550 jobs at the peak of construction. ESB has spent an additional €75 million upgrading the four existing generating units on the site. These have a combined capacity of 528 megawatts. The combined cycle gas turbine generating plant is the lowest electricity emitter of carbon from any conventional power station in Ireland and represents highly efficient, state-of-the-art technology. It was built by the French engineering company Alstom Power Ltd., and construction began in October 2007.

Speaking at the official opening event today, the Minister for Foreign Affairs said the development is a major economic boost to the area: "The reinvestment in the existing plant at Aghada and the construction of a new adjacent power station guarantees electricity generation and jobs for decades to come in the Cork area. We are also acutely conscious of the challenges facing us in regard to climate change and this power station has been built with clean energy in mind and to the highest environmental standards with minimum emissions," the Minister said.

ESB Chief Executive, Padraig McManus, said the very high efficiency rate of the Aghada Power Station means it will remain, not only the foremost generator in Ireland, but also among the best in Europe. "The challenge for all energy market participants is to deliver clean, safe and cost-effective electricity to our customers. The Aghada plant, built by one of the world's leading engineering companies, does all of this. We now look forward to the opening of competition in all sectors of the electricity industry because value to the customer must lie at the heart of every strand of our business planning. ESB is ready to meet that challenge," he said.

The Vice-President of French company Alstom Power, Gregor Gnaedig, said that the alliance between his company, as a leader in clean power technologies, and a company like ESB advances pragmatic solutions to climate change while ensuring customers enjoyed reliable and safe supply.

"We both operate to ambitiously high standards. Our ability to provide advanced engineering, in tandem with ESB's determination to help meet Ireland's climate change targets, means we have delivered a world-standard electricity generator here in Aghada," Gnaedig said.