9th Oct 2003

STATE-OF-THE-ART COOLKEERAGH ESB PLANT PROVIDES £20 MILLION WORTH

OF BUSINESS FOR LOCAL FIRMS

Local suppliers have already won £20 million worth of business from the development of the state of the art new Coolkeeragh ESB power station in Northern Ireland which is under construction, it was announced today, as the project continued on schedule.

There are over 200 people working on the Coolkeeragh ESB construction site with the majority of the workforce from the North West region. The construction of the power station, along with the new gas pipeline across Northern Ireland represent a total investment of over £250million.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office, Mr Pearson MP, with Mr Dermot Ahern TD, Minister of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in the Republic of Ireland , visited the site where the new 400MW combined cycle gas fired power station is being developed at Coolkeeragh.

Mr Padraig McManus, Chief Executive of ESB and Mr Richard Sterling, Managing Director of Coolkeeragh Power Ltd, welcomed the two Ministers on their visit to the site.

The Coolkeeragh ESB power plant will use the most up-to-date large-scale gas turbine technology available to produce clean, high quality, competitively priced electricity and will facilitate the growing demand for electricity in Northern Ireland . The power plant is being built, and will be operated to the best international standards, with careful measures being to protect the natural environment.

Mr McManus noted that the project had now achieved major milestones with the arrival on site of all of the key components, including the turbine, and that the plant was on target for commercial operation in early 2005. He said that the Coolkeeragh ESB plant was stimulating economic growth in the region, and bringing many tangible benefits in the form of job creation, local company contracts, efficient power generation, increase security of electricity supply and facilitation of the extension of the gas network to the North and Northwest.

He added that the new plant would be very efficient, providing cleaner power and generation and lower electricity costs.

The plant when completed will provide direct employment of 40 highly skilled positions, with ongoing plant maintenance and facilities management providing additional employment. In addition, further jobs will be created in the servicing of the plant. Over 20 local subcontractors and companies have already won contracts to supply goods and services as a result of an innovative procurement scheme.

He said he was pleased to see that the management team was also now in place and the recruitment of the operations and maintenance staff for the plant was on track with many applications received for the posts.

The ESB Chief Executive expressed his commitment to an all-island electricity market: " I believe an integrated and more competitive all-island energy market will provide substantial economic and social benefits particularly in the areas of investment planning, competitive pricing and reliability of supply. In a European market where consolidation has been the trend, the logic of moving towards an all-Island market and progressing to all-Islands market with Great Britain should bring many more benefits.

This is crucial to ensure competitiveness, inward investment and create employment in what is an ever increasing globalised market," he added.

For further information please contact

Claire Aiken OR Shane Finnegan @ Aiken PR on 048 9066 3000

Or email Claire@aikenpr.co.uk

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