Lough Ree Power Station
100 MW · Lanesborough, Ireland · Europe
| Location | Lanesborough, County Longford, Ireland |
|---|---|
| Total Capacity | 100 MW |
| Type | Peat-fired, brownfield development |
| Commercial Operation | April 2004 |
| Off-taker | Electricity Supply Board (ESB) |
| Sister Plant | West Offaly Power Station (150 MW) |
| Decommissioned | December 2020 (peat fuel permission refused) |
Project Overview
Lough Ree Power Station was a 100 MW peat-fired generating station in Lanesborough, Ireland, commissioned in April 2004 to replace an older facility on the same site. Lough Ree and the larger West Offaly Power Station were sister projects developed by Foster Wheeler Oy under the same EPC structure for the Irish utility, ESB. Both plants operated until December 2020, when permission to continue burning peat was refused under Ireland's transition off indigenous peat fuel.
Why This Project Matters For Procurement Diligence
Lough Ree experienced the same first-year design oversight as West Offaly - peat fuel chemistry drove severe corrosion in the baghouse and absorber towers. The corrective-action campaign that followed was run across both plants in parallel. Smartland's senior leadership served as site manager during that two-year period and was responsible for the repairs, the technical resolution, and the commercial settlement that resulted in ESB dropping the $1.3 billion lawsuit prepared against the contractor.
The signal for an off-taker evaluating Smartland today: when a project goes wrong (and on long-cycle infrastructure, projects do go wrong), our leadership has demonstrably brought a billion-dollar contractor-vs-utility dispute back to operational and commercial resolution. Building from greenfield is one skill. Recovering from a crisis is a different skill, and we have done it twice on the same off-taker.
Notable Features
- Indigenous (peat) fuel utilization
- Regional economic contribution to County Longford
- Advanced fuel handling systems
- Environmental compliance systems including absorber tower (rebuilt during the corrective-action period)
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