1950 – ESB Power Station, Portarlington, Co. Laois

Portarlington Power Station was opened in 1950 as Ireland’s peat-fired power station, by Minister for Industry, Daniel Morrissey TD, ESB Chairman R.F. Browne, and the Bishop of Killaloe. The turbine building was finished externally in brick, and the large cooling tower was 236 feet in height. The station was designed to use the full output of sod peat fuel produced on the adjoining Clonsast bog. At its peak, the station consumed approximately 195,000 tonnes of peat per annum, producing 150 million units of electricity. Closed in 1988, demolished in 1997.