Electricity could once again be generated at Shannonbridge in Co Offaly under emergency plans to counter potential energy shortages.
A proposal for an emergency plant which is contained in an application to An Bord Pleanála could see electricity generated periodically over the next five years.
It is designed to address potential electricity supply deficit over the coming winters.
The proposed project in Shannonbridge is for eight open-cycle gas turbine units, fuelled by diesel oil, which will collectively have the capacity to generate some 264MW of temporary emergency electricity on 9.22 hectares of land within the existing West Offaly Power Station site boundary at Shannonbridge.
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan last week referred to a proposal for a new 264MW facility in Shannonbridge for consideration by An Bord Pleanála.
On receipt of the planning board's assessment, the minister will have the final decision.
The application specifies that the project would be independent of an approved planning application by the ESB to demolish the existing power station and develop battery storage systems at Shannonbridge.
The plan is for the facility to be developed by the coming winter, along with another 150MW project in Tarbert, Co Kerry.
This temporary generation capacity will be in place until 2027 at the earliest, with provision in the legislation to extend to 2028.
A decision on the application to An Bord Pleanála is due by 23 March.
In a statement, the ESB said in May last year it, and other industry players, were invited by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to participate in the provision of emergency generation.
"The plant will only generate when existing market-based generation capacity has failed or is imminently likely to fail to meet the system requirements," it added.
"As set out by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), this capacity is temporary is nature and will not be an active participant in the wholesale electricity market.
"At the point in time when new enduring capacity has removed the need for temporary emergency generation, the plant will cease operation and will be removed from the site," the statement added.
