Revenue at power station builder APC trebles to €185m

The company, which is owned by US stock market-listed group Argan, saw revenue rise in its most recent financial year to €185m, up from just over €60m in the previous year.

APC is currently building three gas-fired flexible peaking power plants in Dublin at Poolbeg, Ringsend and Corduff that will provide back-up supply options when renewable electricity generation is limited.

The firm is also constructing an open-cycle thermal power facility at Shannonbridge in Co Offaly, that will have the capacity to generate approximately 264 MW of temporary emergency electrical power on behalf of the ESB and Eirgrid to ensure a reliable electricity supply during critical situations and emergencies in the midlands.

“On top of that, we are doing significant upgrades to existing ESB and SSE fleets in order to keep them going for longer,” said APC chief executive Billy Nolan.

Gas-fired projects in particular would continue for some time to be crucial in the transition to renewable energy, he said.

“There's a lot of work coming down the pipeline, because there's such a demand on the grid at the moment. There’s a number of new generation projects being proposed at the moment with over 2 gigawatt of new gas-fired plants likely.”

“We are the only Irish or UK company doing this type of work any more because it is such a tough market,” he said and APC’s strong financial results had come despite significant uncertainty around costs in the sector.

There's a lot of work coming down the pipeline, because there's such a demand on the grid at the moment

“Across the board, on average, the cost of a new project has increased by about 35pc to 40pc in the last three years, which is huge. That is especially because we are talking about projects that aren't cheap anyhow.”

APC’s UK subsidiary had faced issues around costs at Kilroot, a power station it has completed near Belfast, where estimated costs had exceeded projected revenues by $10m (€9.2m), according to the annual report of its parent company.

The company was currently in a disagreement with the project owner over the allocation of extra costs that had arisen over the original contract, it said.

Talks between APC and the project owner were continuing but APC warned in its most recent annual report it would “vigorously pursue all its rights under the contract including via legal means if necessary”.