ESB has officially opened its new 884MW gas fired power station at Carrington near Manchester in the UK.
The €820m power station can power more than one million homes and businesses in the Greater Manchester area.
Following three years of construction, the plant became fully operational last September 2016.
It is one of the most efficient thermal plants in the UK at 58% efficiency and generates four times more electricity than the coal plant formerly located on the site.
Carrington is also the first new large scale high efficiency gas plant to come onto the British electricity grid since 2013.
As well as providing electricity, ESB said that Carrington Power Station will be one of the most flexible plants providing fast back-up when it is needed most to intermittent wind and solar generation.
Pat O’Doherty, the ESB's chief executive said that official opening of the Carrington power station marks the successful delivery of a major project from initial plans almost ten years ago through construction and to full commercial operation.
"Carrington is a key part of ESB's overall strategy to maintain and grow a generation business of scale in today's highly competitive market," the CEO added.
ESB is also building a £190m, 40MW waste wood biomass plant at Tilbury in Essex in partnership with the Green Investment Bank which will commence operations later this year.
It also has plans for a 1,650MW gas fired power station at Knottingley in West Yorkshire and is pursuing a number of waste to energy developments in the UK.
