ESBI starts work on new Carrington power station
ESB International, the overseas arm of the Republic of Ireland's Electricity Supply Board, has started preliminary site work on the £500m Carrington power station.
The company received planning consent in July last year for the construction of the 860-megawatt combined cycle gas turbine power station on the site of the original plant.
The station, which already has connection to the National Grid, will sit alongside the Manchester Ship Canal and River Mersey.
Site enabling works are programmed throughout this year with construction scheduled to commence in early 2010. Contractors are due to be selected later this year.
Construction will create 600 jobs with a further 50 people employed full-time when the plant is operational in 2013. ESBI said there is enough land available at Carrington to build a facility for future requirements to capture and store carbon.
ESBI acquired a controlling interest in the project company, Bridestones, from Carlton Power in October 2008.
The Irish group intends to invest over £3bn in the international energy sector and has plans to build over 3,000 megawatts of gas-fired and renewable generation plants in the UK by 2020.
