RWE Pushes Ahead with Major U.K. Gas-fired Project

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--RWE npower (Swindon, England) has kicked off plans to build one of the U.K.'s largest planned gas-fired power plants at Tilbury in Essex.

The company said it has begun the planning process for the 2,500-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant, known as the Tilbury Energy Centre. It also includes plans for an optional 300 MW of open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) power generation and an energy storage facility.

"RWE's Tilbury site is considered to be one of the best in the country for power generation given its proximity to London, the National Grid electrical and gas system, and cooling water from the River Thames," the company stated. "There has been power generation on the Tilbury site since the 1950s. Any investment decision to build new power generation at the Tilbury site is dependent on many factors such as achieving an acceptable Development Consent Order, obtaining an Environmental Permit to operate, future market conditions and commercial viability."

It will be located on the site of the former 1,100-MW Tilbury coal-fired plant on the River Thames, which was partially converted to a 750-MW biomass plant--the U.K.'s largest--in 2011. However, it was shut just two years later in 2013 when RWE said it could not secure additional funding from the government under its new low-carbon energy scheme--Contracts for Difference--to fully convert the power plant to biomass. For additional information, see August 20, 2013, article - Largest Biomass Plant in U.K. Closes.

Demotion of the existing plant started in January last year and is due to be completed at the end of 2018.

The U.K. government is struggling to attract investment in new gas-fired plants, which are deemed vital to help balance the rapidly increasing amount of renewable energy being added. Last December, Industrial Info reported that work has stopped on the U.K.'s only new gas-fired project in Manchester when the 1,900-MW Trafford Power Station returned a subsidy of £450 million ($556 million) to the government after admitting that the plant may not be completed on time. For additional information, see December 27, 2016, article - Work Stops on U.K.'s Only New Gas-Fired Power Plant.

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