Businesses in Bagenalstown could expand their capacity by up to a third if they had a better power supply.
That’s according to Cllr Arthur Mc Donald, who raised the issue at the Muinebheag district meeting last evening.
He’s calling for ESB to enter talks with the local authority, with a view to providing more power to the area.
Cllr McDonald’s been telling KCLR News “You know we talk about new jobs, increasing jobs; one company says that it could increase by a third more capacity if it had the energy to do it so we have to get the ESB in Bagenalstown, our people need these jobs, we need to advance on where we’re going”.
He adds “I know that the ESB have made efforts and have increased their voltage by about 10 kilowatts but that’s only taken up the slack that’s there at the minute if there’s to be further expansion in these companies they would need a further 20 kilowatts which is probably double the power of what they have”.
In a statement to KCLR News, the ESB had this response:
“From a capacity point of view, ESB Networks can confirm that there is ample capacity for current and known future electricity demand in the Bagenalstown area. Indeed, €7.8m has been invested in the network surrounding Bagenalstown station in the past five years, which constitutes 20% of all ESB Networks investment in Carlow/Kilkenny. Further investment is planned in increasing the capacity at Bagenalstown 38kV station, and we anticipate that this will be completed in autumn 2021. This increase in capacity will cater for projected industrial, commercial and domestic development in Bagenalstown and surrounding area in the coming years.”
