Scottish Power to Develop 1,000-Megawatt Combined-Cycle Gas Turbine Plant in Kent

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Utility company Scottish Power Limited (Glasgow, Scotland) has announced plans to set up a 1,000-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle gas turbine power station at the Kingsnorth Industrial Estate near Hoo in Kent. The new plant will be set up near the 792-MW gas-fired Damhead Creek power station. The estimated cost of the project is about $687 million.

Scottish Power plans to submit the planning application under Section 36 of the Electricity Act of 1989 to the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change (London) in the summer of 2009. The new plant proposals will be outlined in such a way that carbon capture technology can be easily integrated with the project plans.

The project is expected to create 50 permanent employment opportunities and 1,000 construction jobs in the region. The company expects local businesses to obtain several contracts during the construction stage. Scottish Power estimates that about $37.5 million will be spent annually on local services throughout the planned 25-year lifetime of the project.

In June 2004, Scottish Power purchased the existing combined-cycle gas turbine Damhead Creek power station for $440.5 million from Damhead Energy Limited, a warehousing vehicle set up by a consortium of banks funding the project. The plant was originally commissioned in 2001 by the American energy company Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) (New Orleans, Louisiana). It was constructed by Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) (Waltham, Massachusetts). Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited (TYO:7011) (Tokyo, Japan) supplied the gas turbine equipment.

E.ON UK Plc (Coventry, England), a subsidiary of E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Duesseldorf, Germany), owns and operates the 1,940-MW Kingsnorth Power Station in Kent. The four units were set up between 1963 and 1973 and can operate on both coal and gas. Under the emission standards set by the European Union Large Combustion Plant Directive, the four units will have to be shut down. E.ON UK proposed to close down the four units after setting up two new 800-MW supercritical coal-based power stations at an estimated investment of about $1.39 billion. According to E.ON UK, the new units would emit up to 1.8 million tons per year less carbon dioxide than the existing plants and would operate at an efficiency of more than 45%. The existing plants function at about 36% efficiency.

In late 2006, the company announced plans to begin construction of the new units in early 2008 and to commission the plant by late 2012. Under Section 36 of the Electricity Act of 1989, the company is required to first obtain the approval of John Hutton, Secretary of State for the U.K. Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (London), before proceeding with its project plans. While Hutton has signaled his support for the project, he is yet to announce a formal decision.

Meanwhile, the project is facing stiff opposition from the local community as well as from political leaders. They point out that the new plant, and six others in the pipeline, would emit more than 50 million tons of carbon dioxide, effectively wiping out all chances of the United Kingdom and reducing emissions by 40% by 2020 and by 80% before 2050. The country would lose all political authority in directing other nations to not build coal-fired plants. The power project is still awaiting approval from the government.

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