Ballylumford and Kilroot power stations sold to Czech firm in £163m deal

The Ballylumford and Kilroot power stations have been sold by their US owners to a Czech firm as part of a £163m deal.

US firm AES has owned Northern Ireland's Ballylumford and Kilroot power stations since the NI power grid was privatised back in 1992. They are the largest power stations in Northern Ireland, with a combined peak output of over 2,000MW from a combination of coal, oil, and natural gas burners.

The plants had been under threat of closure before AES won the bid for continued electricity generation for the 2022-2023 year, and both have now been sold the the Czech company Energeticky a Prumyslovy Holding (EPH). While the exact value of the assets sold wasn't disclosed, they were included in a $211m (£163m) deal between AES and EPH.

EPH has previously converted coal power stations to run on natural gas and biomass, but it's not yet known if it has any plans to invest in overhauling Ballylumford or Kilroot. The purchase follows news that over a third of Northern Ireland's electricity is now produced by wind turbines and the approval of a new £300m gas-fired power plant that will be completed in 2022.