A unit of power company Viridian, whose consumer and business arm trades as Energia, posted an €81.5m loss in its last financial year as it slashed the value of its Huntstown 2 power plant in north Dublin by €91.5m during a dispute with national grid operator EirGrid.

That row saw Viridian threaten to close its facilities at Huntstown.

Viridian Power has also heavily criticised the new Integrated Single Electricity Market (Isem), which came into operation last autumn.

In January last year, Viridian signalled that it was planning to close its power stations at Huntstown after one of the plants failed to secure a capacity contract from EirGrid under the new Integrated Single Electricity Market. The Isem is the new wholesale electricity market arrangement for Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Viridian later successfully appealed the decision by EirGrid to not award one of its Huntstown plants a capacity contract. Last month, both of Viridian’s Huntstown plants qualified for capacity payments, which is money allocated to power plants for being available to generate electricity.

“It is the company’s strong view that the Isem market does not adequately take into account transmission system constraints or provide a mechanism to procure the capacity necessary to ensure local security of supply at the cheapest cost,” Viridian Power noted in its most recently-filed accounts.

“The company considers that the design of the Isem market and the outcome of the auction has had an impact on the future carrying value of the Huntstown 2 plant,” it added.

Energia made a €20.9m operating profit in its last financial year, down from €39.3m as margins were squeezed.

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