Fears for 100 Moneypoint jobs as ESB looks to ‘realign’

There are fears for the future of around half of Moneypoint power station’s 194-strong workforce.

It follows a meeting between ESB local management and staff at the west Clare coal-burning plant yesterday where, it is understood, management warned of around 100 job losses of around 100 was put forward by management.

The ESB is not pressing for compulsory redundancies and, in similar situations at other under-performing plants, staff have been offered voluntary severances and offers of redeployment.

A statement from the ESB said that, due to market pressures, carbon prices, and increases in renewable energy, “Moneypoint is running far less than previously”.

“Given these market fundamentals, a low-running regime is likely to persist into the future. The impact of these factors is that Moneypoint’s income has been significantly reduced,” it said.

Consequently, ESB needs to realign Moneypoint’s operation and resources with the new lower running regime.

The ESB said local station management briefed staff and their union representatives yesterday on these challenges “and set out proposals for a reconfigured option for running Moneypoint”.

The ESB said “the consultation now in train will focus on the staffing levels required for the lower running regime, including discussions on how this can be achieved”.

The ESB is to cease all generation from coal in Moneypoint no later than 2025.

The latest figures from Eirgrid show that coal now accounts for 4% of the fuel mix in generating electricity for the national grid.

That compares to 65% for gas and 7% for renewables.

An ESB spokesman said that the briefing to staff yesterday commences a dialogue with staff on a lower running regime, which the ESB states “will take time to develop and finalise”.

“ESB is very aware of the uncertainty this creates for all our staff and ESB is committed to supporting them through this process,” said the spokesman

The ESB is “currently examining technology options for Moneypoint beyond 2025 that will deliver large-scale electricity generation, fuel diversity, and security of supply”, he said.

The statement stressed that “the development of replacement generation for Moneypoint, however, is contingent on a project winning an open auction for a capacity contract and on being commercially viable”.