No Backers Found for U.K. Gas-Fired Power Plant

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--As the U.K. faces an energy crisis, a new gas-fired power plant project in Manchester has encountered major setbacks.

Carlton Power (Stokesley, England), the company behind the proposed, $1.5 billion Trafford Power Station, has admitted that financial backers still have not been found to help fund the project, and it will miss its planned start-up date of 2018. With a proposed generation capacity of about 1.9 gigawatts (GW), it will be capable of supplying power to about 2.2 million homes.

It is the only planned new gas-fired project on the radar for the next couple of years in the U.K., where electricity supplies will be hit hard in the coming years as a result of the closure of older fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants for safety and environmental reasons. The problem has been compounded by the closure of plants in 2015 that have been struggling to remain profitable in the current economic climate. For additional information, see July 23, 2015, article - U.K. Risks Winter Blackouts as Power Stations Close.

Mike Benson, Carlton Power's business development director, told the Daily Telegraph that attracting the necessary investment had been "more difficult than we would have hoped." He blamed uncertain government policy decisions, and general uncertainly in the market, which was caused by the new Conservative government's cuts to subsidies for wind and solar power projects. He also claimed that the significant subsidies awarded to the renewable energy sector in recent years had skewed the entire wholesale energy market, making new gas-fired projects unattractive to investors.

"Despite the widespread acceptance of the need for new gas fired generation, there is no market signal to support that investment," Benson said. "The recent changes in government support for renewables is an issue that concerns the investors we are talking to, as this demonstrates an increase in political intervention and uncertainty over the long term structure of the U.K. market."

Trafford Power Station is expected to use 9HA series turbines from General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut).

Industrial Info has tracked the closure of numerous large fossil-fuel power stations in the U.K. this year, which will have a severe impact on the U.K.'s future generation capacity. In July, E.ON (XETRA:EOAN) (Düsseldorf, Germany) announced the closure of its 900-megawatt (MW) Killingholme combined-cycle, gas-turbine (CCGT) power station in the U.K., after it failed to win a power contract from the National Grid's Supplemental Balancing Reserve (SBR) service. For additional information, see July 9, 2015, article - E.ON Shuts Killingholme Gas-Fired Plant in U.K..

In May, Scottish utility SSE plc (Perth, Scotland) blamed rising costs, falling profits and stricter environmental rules for its decision to close the 2,000-MW, coal-fired power plant at Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire, England. For additional information, see May 25, 2015, article - Rising Costs Force Closure of Ferrybridge Power Plant in England.

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