Leading the UK into a new era of low carbon generation

We're investing billions of pounds in new power generation projects that will ensure we have secure energy supplies and help move the UK towards a lower carbon future.

Much of the UK's ageing generation capacity will need replacing during the next decade and, in its place, we aim to have a balanced portfolio combining renewables, nuclear, gas and cleaner coal, as well as other emerging power generation technologies.

We've already started work on a number of projects and some others are going through the planning approvals process. We've now starting generating electricity at one of the UK's largest dedicated biomass power stations, at Steven's Croft near Lockerbie, which will burn forestry residue and specially-grown willow. This will displace around 140,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. We're also planning to build another 25 megawatt (MW) biomass plant at Sheffield in South Yorkshire. At this stage, construction is intended to start in early 2009.

Work has started on our new gas-fired, combined heat and power (CHP) plant at the Isle of Grain in Kent that is due on stream in 2010. This 1,275MW station will achieve overall efficiencies of up to 72% and will also supply hot water to a nearby liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal. This will help us cut carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions further.

We have permission to build a 1,220MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant at Drakelow near Burton-upon-Trent. This station will use the very latest technology, producing enough electricity for around one million homes. We're also planning the UK's first supercritical coal units at Kingsnorth. The greater temperatures used in these units would enable us to reduce CO2 emissions by 20%, compared to the existing power station - saving almost two million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year on a like for like basis. We also plan to use Kingsnorth as a test bed for (CCS) technology and then use this technology to reduce carbon emissions from the plant by up to 90%. The Government has launched a competition to fund a demonstration CCS project, which we have entered. If successful, we believe Kingsnorth could be a showcase for cleaner coal-fired power stations around the world.

As one of the UK's leading developers of wind power since the early 1990s, we now operate 21 wind farms (on and off-shore) and we're currently building an offshore wind farms at Robin Rigg in the Solway Firth. When complete, Robin Rigg will generate enough energy to power nearly 120,000 homes.We'll continue to expand our wind portfolio whilst investigating other renewable technologies like wave and tidal power, and we're already involved in a pioneering wave energy project off the coast of Cornwall. With Lunar Energy, we're also developing a multi-million pound tidal stream project of up to 8MW off the Pembrokeshire coast which would be capable of producing enough power for up to 5,000 homes.

The UK suffers from a shortage of gas storage facilities, so we're constructing our first at Holford in Cheshire. With a capacity of 165 million cubic metres (mcm) and a withdrawal rate of 16mcm/day, the gas stored at Holford could supply the domestic gas needs of around 3 million homes. We're also planning another gas storage facility at Whitehill in the East Riding of Yorkshire.