AES Kilroot
Situated outside Carrickfergus to the North of Belfast, AES Kilroot is one of the main Northern Ireland electricity generators, producing one third of the province’s consumption. The company is also one of the Top 100 companies in Northern Ireland.
AES Kilroot employs around 100 people in Northern Ireland and its parent company, the AES Corporation, employs 30,000 people worldwide.
As a coal fuelled power station, AES Kilroot is often criticised for its impact on the environment, but the company takes environmental issues seriously and endeavours to minimise its negative environmental impacts. The company plans to reduce its SO2 emissions by 75% and NOx emissions by 30% by 2008 and is installing Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) and performing other modifications to help it achieve this aim. This implementation should retain 120 local jobs and contribute around £17 million to the local economy. One of the environmental innovations AES has introduced recently involves a testing programme burning various biomass products with coal, the plants current main fuel.
Social responsibility runs deep in the AES culture throughout the world. AES people offer their time, energy and money to the communities where they do business. Their effort to be responsible corporate citizens takes many forms as they direct their energies to the projects that have the greatest impact on a particular community or location. From building a school in Pakistan to helping the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society raise money to fight cancer, AES strives to make a difference.
When AES people offer financial support to non-profit organizations in their part of the world, they can effectively double their impact through an extraordinary AES program. The AES Charitable Gift Matching Plan will match an individual's eligible contribution dollar-for-dollar, pound for pound. This matching gift program is just one more way AES helps their people "get the job done" through decisive, positive involvement in their communities.
On a local level as part of its commitment to the community, AES Kilroot makes contributions to a range of charities across Northern Ireland. In 2004, the company organised the ‘AES Energy Challenge’ with other companies from the energy sector in Northern Ireland, raising £14k for Action MS.
To help with staff development and motivation as well as contributing to the community, the company undertake volunteering challenges through Business in the Community’s Cares programme, dedicating pro bono time and practical support to local groups, such as the Colin Glen Trust in March 2006.
AES was proud to be the main sponsor for the Business in the Community Exchanging for the Better - All Ireland CSR Conference in 2006.
Shane Lynch, AES Development Director for Ireland, is a member of Business in the Community Northern Ireland Board.
“AES Kilroot recognizes the importance of environmental matters in Northern Ireland and beyond, and believes that we should undertake our business activities in an environmentally responsible manner. We wish to demonstrate our commitment to the principle of sustainable development. We are also committed to the local community and manage our activity in this respect through our Social Responsibility Taskforce. This task force is made up from a cross-section of the workforce and coordinates all charitable giving at the plant.”
Derek Patton, Managing Director, AES Kilroot
