[1][2] In 1992, the station was purchased by AES Corporation, as part of the privatisation of the state-owned Northern Ireland Electricity.

Kilroot power station was designed and built by Kennedy and Donkin, consultants for Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), commencing in 1974.

[2][3] The power station was originally fuelled by only oil, as it was the lowest cost fuel at the time.

[5] In December 2005, AES was granted permission to install flue gas desulfurization (FGD) equipment at the station.

[5] Kilroot Power Limited opted into the Transitional National Plan of the Industrial Emissions Directive from 1 January 2016 to 30 June 2020.

[citation needed] In January 2018, Kilroot's failure to win a new contract under the Single Electricity Market threatened its closure by May.

[7] In April 2019 AES Corporation has agreed to sell Kilroot to EP UK Investments, a subsidiary of Energetický a průmyslový holding.

Oil was imported at the jetty at Kilroot since a modification in 2009 and stored in 2 large storage tanks located adjacent to the main Carrickfergus Larne Road.

They occupy the space previously allocated for the originally planned third and fourth oil-fired generators, which were ultimately never installed.