EM - February/March 2014 - (Page 13)
13
February/March 2014 * www.esb.ie/em
Generation & Wholesale Markets
An insight into G&WM
8 As we move into a new year, EM talks with Paddy Hayes, Executive Director,
Generation & Wholesale Markets, about the purpose, structure and key activities
of this business unit.
located is a stakeholder worth focusing on. Staff in our generation plants
have always taken huge pride in being a good neighbour and making
a positive contribution to the local
community. Our footprint is getting
broader, particularly now that we
have almost 400MW of wind farms
in commercial operation, and a lot
of effort goes into community engagement.
Something that many people don't
see or appreciate is the huge work
that's done in Fisheries/Conservation, managing fish stocks and improving many habitats and many
miles of river bank every year.
Q
A
Paddy Hayes, Executive Director, Generation & Wholesale Markets.
Q
A
Paddy, what's the core purpose
of G&WM?
In G&WM, our core purpose
traces right back to the building of Ardnacrusha and the creation
of ESB in 1927. Our core purpose today is providing a reliable supply of
electricity for our customers, for the
economy and for the future - and doing that in a safe, cost-effective and
sustainable way.
Q
A
How is the business organised
to achieve this?
We've established a simple
business model, working on
three specific activities:
* Developing new generation assets
(Asset Development);
* Generating electricity from those
assets (Generation); and
* Trading that electricity and the associated commodities (Trading).
These business lines are supported
by our Human Resources, Finance
and Strategy & Regulation teams.
It seems to make sense to have
a connection between these parts
of the business. In the longer term,
we'd like to get agreement from the
Regulators to remove the ring-fence
between Generation/Trading and
Electric Ireland. I think a future connection between Generation, Trading and Supply would allow us to operate more effectively and to better
manage risk for both ourselves and
our customers.
Q
A
What are the long-term priorities for G&WM?
Firstly, safety and making sure
nobody gets hurt in our business or by our business - this sits
ahead of everything else.
Secondly, people - everything in
G&WM depends on our staff, who
have made a huge contribution to
the business over many years. I
particularly want to acknowledge
the impact in 2013 of the significant
reductions in staff numbers and the
personal impact of pay reductions as
part of addressing the competitive
cost base of the business.
Do you have any other stakeholders?
We have many stakeholders
but the local communities in
which our generation activities are
Q
A
Who are G&WM's
customers?
Our customers are really important to us in G&WM but
sometimes I feel that because of the
ring-fence from Electric Ireland we
don't see this as clearly as we might.
I see all electricity users in the SEM
as G&WM's customers. We might not
have a direct contract with them but
we sell electricity to all the SEM supply companies. Electric Ireland and
the other supply companies themselves are also our customers. We
don't just sell them electricity but
also products that allow them to better manage risk on behalf of their
customers.
The Grid companies in ROI, NI
and GB are also key customers and
are all dependent on us for system
services.
And, until recently, in Marchwood
and still in Amorebieta, our biggest
customers of all have been our tolling counterparties in Southampton
and Spain, namely SSE and Shell.
G&WM Asset Map.
Q
A
What are your key priorities for
2014?
Our key priorities are summarised in the 2014 business
plan, which is available to everyone
in G&WM. However, if I were to pick
the top five, I would say:
- Safety;
- People;
- Operating Performance;
- Construction of Carrington and
Woodhouse;
- The trading and commercialisation
of Carrington.
It will be a challenging year but I'm
optimistic that it will be a positive
one in ESB Generation & Wholesale
Markets.
Contents ❱❱
■ Asset Management
Conference
In December, the G&WM
Asset Management team
held its yearly conference,
which was organised and
led by Orla Newman, Asset
Management Specialist.
■ Constructing Carrington
G&WM
Asset
Development
Generation
Trading
Supply
Businesses
Financial Control
Human Resources
Strategy & Regulation
Support from ESB Group, ESBI (Innovation), BSC,
Corporate etc.
John O'Connor, Carrington
Programme Director, takes
time out to speak with EM
about how the exciting
new electricity generation
project being developed near
Manchester is progressing.
■ ESB Trading Sing for
Simon
A group from ESB Trading
headed to Grafton Street on
Thursday December 19th for
the annual Sing for Simon
carol singing event.
OUR THREE MAJOR
OBJECTIVES:
Grow the business - We have
a growth mandate from ESB.
It's a big and exciting challenge and we aim to have about
7000MW of generation capacity by
2025. The requirement for the sale
of state assets means we start this
journey by taking a step backwards
but we have great construction projects under way in Carrington and
Woodhouse at the moment. This
growth strategy, combined with our
strategic resourcing plan, presents
significant opportunities to employ
future generations of people in the
years to come, which will be an important legacy for us.
1
2
Build a balanced, low-carbon
generation portfolio within
the all-islands market - With
increasing interconnection and
the GB and SEM systems coming
together, we have to see the AllIslands as our home market. As
we grow the portfolio, we want to
reduce the carbon intensity of our
generation by increasing the proportion of renewables. We started from
zero carbon with Ardnacrusha and
we've made huge progress on reducing carbon intensity over recent
years but we have a long way to go.
3
Continue to improve performance - To grow we need
investment so we need to continue to demonstrate that generation
and trading is a good investment.
This means building great new assets, ensuring excellent asset management and plant performance
from our existing stations, a competitive cost base throughout the
business and sound commercial and
trading decisions.
http://www.esb.ie/em
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of EM - February/March 2014
EM - February/March 2014
Contents
News
Innovation
Generation & Wholesale Markets
BSC & Electric Ireland
ESB Networks Ltd
Health & Habitat
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