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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - RWE nPower (Swindon, England) has brought operations at its 1,140-megawatt (MW) Littlebrook Power Station in Kent to a close after almost 34 years of operation.
The oil-fired station stopped operating on March 31, in order to comply with the government's Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD). The plant was opted out of the LCPD in 2008, meaning that it had to close in 2015 or after 10,000 hours of operation. However, RWE nPower, part of Germany's second largest power company RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany) said that poor market conditions prompted the decision to shut the plant by the end of last month.
Roger Miesen, Chief Technical Officer (CTO), RWE Generation, commented, "Today is a sad but not unexpected day. I'd like to pay tribute to this station and the people that have worked here helping to keep the lights on across London for so many years."
Since commissioning in 1981, the plant supplied over 43,475 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity for the Greater London area and regularly supplied enough for around one million homes. Electricity has been generated at the Littlebrook site for 75 years.
The three unit plant has been operating just two units in recent times with one held in reserve.
The Littlebrook site is also home to three open-cycle gas turbines, each capable of generating 35 MW. These will remain operational.
RWE said that it has invested more than £6 billion ($9 billion ) into more modern and efficient power plants over the past five years to offset the closure of older, fossil-fuelled power plants.
The closure comes just weeks after fellow German utility, E.ON (XETRA:EOAN) (Düsseldorf, Germany) announced that it was withdrawing its 900 MW Killingholme plant from the U.K. electricity grid. The plant failed to win business in the country's recent Capacity Market Auction, which was conducted by the country's grid operator, National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) (London), to choose plants that will help secure the country's electricity supply through 2018/19. For additional information, see March 23, 2015, article - E.ON Pulls Killingholme Gas-Fired Plant From Service.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the Industrial Info "Contact Us" page.
The oil-fired station stopped operating on March 31, in order to comply with the government's Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD). The plant was opted out of the LCPD in 2008, meaning that it had to close in 2015 or after 10,000 hours of operation. However, RWE nPower, part of Germany's second largest power company RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany) said that poor market conditions prompted the decision to shut the plant by the end of last month.
Roger Miesen, Chief Technical Officer (CTO), RWE Generation, commented, "Today is a sad but not unexpected day. I'd like to pay tribute to this station and the people that have worked here helping to keep the lights on across London for so many years."
Since commissioning in 1981, the plant supplied over 43,475 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity for the Greater London area and regularly supplied enough for around one million homes. Electricity has been generated at the Littlebrook site for 75 years.
The three unit plant has been operating just two units in recent times with one held in reserve.
The Littlebrook site is also home to three open-cycle gas turbines, each capable of generating 35 MW. These will remain operational.
RWE said that it has invested more than £6 billion ($9 billion ) into more modern and efficient power plants over the past five years to offset the closure of older, fossil-fuelled power plants.
The closure comes just weeks after fellow German utility, E.ON (XETRA:EOAN) (Düsseldorf, Germany) announced that it was withdrawing its 900 MW Killingholme plant from the U.K. electricity grid. The plant failed to win business in the country's recent Capacity Market Auction, which was conducted by the country's grid operator, National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) (London), to choose plants that will help secure the country's electricity supply through 2018/19. For additional information, see March 23, 2015, article - E.ON Pulls Killingholme Gas-Fired Plant From Service.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the Industrial Info "Contact Us" page.
