Kilroot power station: Russia coal change rule 'within days'

Kilroot's owners want to switch supplies away from Russia

Rules to allow Kilroot power station to use coal from outside Russia could be changed "within days", Stormont's Environment Minister Edwin Poots has said.

The site's owners have called for Stormont to change its rules.

Earlier, households were warned they could face an extra £400 on top of energy bills if the County Antrim site could not burn non-Russian coal.

Mr Poots said he does not want Russian coal, oil or gas in Northern Ireland.

In a statement to BBC NI's The Nolan Show on Wednesday, energy firm EPUKI, who own Kilroot, said it could only meet its emissions limits set out in an environmental permit "through using Russian coal".

It has called for an extension to an operating licence derogation to allow them to source other coal.

That derogation to use higher-emission coal has been in place since early 2020 but is due to expire soon.

It was introduced in case the Covid pandemic interrupted supply chains.

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EPUKI said it wanted that contingency measure to be extended so it can switch supplies away from Russia.

It said if that does not happen and Russian coal is either banned or becomes difficult to get, it may not be able to operate its coal-burning generators.

That would mean more expensive alternative generation would have to be used.

However, there is no imminent risk of that happening.

Edwin Poots said he wanted to prevent the importation of Russian energy sources into Northern Ireland

Mr Poots told The Nolan Show there was "a course of work" to be completed before a change could be implemented.

"We'll go through the proper process, it won't take weeks, it will take days and we will engage with Kilroot, we'll engage with the Department for Economy and we'll follow due process," he explained.

"As far as I'm concerned I don't want to be putting money into Putin's pocket so that they can carry out further attacks on Ukraine."

'Significant additional costs'

EPUKI said there were significant stock levels of coal on site at present.

"We have contingency plans in place for alternative sources of coal supply," the firm said.

"This plan requires changing EP Kilroot's permit which currently prevents us from using coals from other countries.

"Since the start of the Ukraine crisis, EP Kilroot has chaired a number of roundtable workshops with officials from the Department for Economy, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, the Utility Regulator and System Operator NI (SONI) to urgently address the issues of the current permitting arrangements to enable EP Kilroot to remove its reliance on Russian coal.

"If the permitting arrangements are not changed, we believe there will be significant security of supply risks that SONI will need to manage.

"In addition, we are concerned that Northern Ireland consumers will be exposed to significant additional costs in the region of up to £400 per customer per year, depending on the extent to which the coal units are restricted from running.

''We are hopeful that this permitting issue can be resolved very soon."

The NI Environment Agency, which issues the relevant permit, has been approached for comment.

Kilroot is ultimately majority owned by the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretínský who also owns energy assets across Europe, including four power stations in England.