ESB International (ESBI) has acquired a site to develop a new power plant in northwest Spain. The site, in the DuPont industrial complex near Avilés, Asturias in northwest Spain, is 500km northwest of Madrid.

Announcing the development yesterday, ESBI said it would begin the permitting and environmental impact assessment process for an 800 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant.

This will involve extensive consultation with the Spanish government, regional and local authorities as well as the local community, it said. This process is expected to take up to two and half years and will allow construction of the plant to start in 2008. The plan for a new station will need shareholder approval, the company said.

ESBI executive director Michael McNicholas said it intended to develop a state of the art natural gas CCGT plant on the site. "This technology will deliver competitively priced environmentally-friendly power to the Spanish market," he said.

This project follows the completion of a similar CCGT plant in Amorebieta near Bilbao, which was the first independent power plant in Spain, and has been operating since August 2005.

"We see this project as another excellent growth opportunity, which allows ESBI to further invest in this large and important market," Mr McNicholas said.

ESBI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ESB, has extensive experience in investing in, building and operating major power generation plants internationally. It has operations and projects in over 35 countries, including Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

l The ESB board will discuss today the transfer terms for staff who are prepared to move from ESB to EirGrid, the new electricity grid company due to take over responsibility from ESB National Grid.

After four years of negotiations, a group of about 100 ESB workers are to be offered €40,000 gross each to transfer from one company to the other. Union sources said they were not sure how much demand there might be for the package.