Press release
29/03/2007 E.ON UK completes contracts for construction of one of the world’s largest combined heat and power stations
E.ON UK, the company that runs Powergen, has today (MAR 29) announced it has signed a deal with National Grid’s Grain LNG terminal that will make its £500m 1,275MW new power station into one of the world’s largest combined heat and power (CHP) plants.
The company has also announced that the new Grain power station will be built under a turnkey contract by Alstom.
Dr Tony Cocker, Managing Director of E.ON UK’s Energy Wholesale business, said: “We’re in a race to replace many UK power stations with new schemes that are more efficient and cleaner than anything that has gone before and today’s announcement shows our commitment to achieving that.
“We’re also the only UK company to be committed to reducing the carbon intensity of our generation – by 10% by 2012 – and this is yet another example of how we can do that and how we can change the way that we generate, distribute and use energy in the UK.
“In addition, we’re investing billions of pounds in the UK – with new onshore and offshore wind farms, biomass power stations and new super efficient coal-fired units.”
The station will be powered by three high efficiency Alstom GT26 gas turbines and will export up to 340MW of ‘waste’ heat to National Grid’s nearby LNG terminal.
The innovative CHP scheme, believed to be the first of its kind, will result in a reduction of up to 350,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from the LNG Terminal every year. An additional environmental benefit of the scheme will also see a reduction in the amount of heat discharged to the River Medway.
By doing this, E.ON UK will become the first utility company to successfully build major new generation (with CHP) in line with the Government’s recently revised consent guidelines.
Work will start at Grain in May this year, with commissioning expected late in 2009.
In addition to Grain, E.ON UK’s investment plans include:
• A new CCGT at Drakelow in Derbyshire;
• £1bn for a cleaner coal-fired units at nearby Kingsnorth in Kent;
• £300m on building the world’s biggest offshore wind farm - Robin Rigg in the Solway Firth;
• £1bn investment plan for green generation over the next five years, including the multi-million pound Lunar Energy tidal stream project;
• Gas storage facilities at Holford in Cheshire and in East Yorkshire;
• £90m on building the UK’s largest dedicated biomass power station at Steven’s Croft in Lockerbie;
• E.ON UK is also a member of the consortium looking to build one of the world’s largest wind farms – the 1,000MW London Array in the approaches to the Thames.
Ends
Notes to editors:
• The CHP investment benefits from government measures designed to encourage CHP, including exemption from Climate Change Levy, EU Emissions Trading and Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) although there is currently uncertainty as to whether this project will qualify for ECAs;
• E.ON is the UK’s largest integrated power and gas company – generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas – and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. We employ over 15,000 people in the UK;
• The generation business produces enough electricity to cater for the needs of around eight million homes from a portfolio of world-class gas, coal and oil fired power stations;
• We are a market leader in combined heat and power, providing our customers with around 600MW of electricity and more than 1,000MW of heat at 13 sites across the country;
• In addition, we’re one of the leading green generators in the UK, with 20 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland. We also burn biomass material mixed with coal in two of our power stations and are currently building the UK’s largest dedicated biomass power station at Lockerbie. We own the largest traditional hydro power station in England and Wales.
For more information contact:
Emily Highmore on 024 7618 3680
Jonathan Smith on 024 7618 3676
