The AES Corporation has scooped a contract to provide additional electricity generation capacity.

The System Operator Northern Ireland (SONI) chose AES for the three-year contract.

Under the agreement AES will provide an extra 250 megawatts (MW) of capacity, enough electricity to power 160,000 homes across Northern Ireland.

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In January 2013, SONI estimated that that from January 2016 the margin of spare generating capacity in Northern Ireland would reduce from 600MW to 200MW, due to a number of factors. These include the withdrawal of 510MW capacity at Ballylumford station, cable replacement work on the Moyle interconnector and some restrictions on generation at Kilroot station, as a result of the European Union Emissions Directive.

The Utility Regulator, along with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, examined a number of options to address the situation and concluded that SONI should secure additional generation capacity.

(CD/MH)