Alternate name: Lanesboro
County: Longford
Fuel type: Sod and milled peat
Capacity: (see breakdown below)
Status: Inactive
Commissioned: 1958
Decommissioned: 2004

Lanesborough station began its operations in 1958, with an initial capacity of 20MW. It was designed to use milled peat locally produced by Bord na Mona, in an attempt to reduce Ireland’s dependence on imported fossil fuels in the wake of World War II. The station was located on the east bank of the river Shannon at the north end of Lough Ree. At its peak in the 1980s and 1990s, Lanesborough had a generating capacity of 85 MW, and was considered to be the most cost effective and efficient peat fired electricity generating station in Ireland.

Lanesborough station consisted of three main developments:

• Station A: 20 MW electrical, commissioned in 1958 and fired by sod peat, this unit was decommissioned in 1982 after running for 114,328 hours.
• Station B: 40 MW electrical, commissioned in 1966 and fired by milled peat. This unit was decommissioned in 2004.
• Station C: 45 M W electrical, commissioned in 1983 also fired by milled peat. This unit was decommissioned in 2003.

Each unit consisted of a boiler and a turbine/generator. The turbine drove the generators to produce electricity at 10.5 kV, which was fed through an underground cable to a transformer where it was stepped up to 110 kV for transmission to the national grid.

The station was decommissioned in 2004, and demolished in 2007.  It was replaced by the Lough Ree Power station which opened here in 2004.

Click the images below for more information relating to the operation of Lanesborough station.