SSE Seeks to Make Keadby 2 Gas-fired Plant Bigger

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Scottish utility SSE plc (Perth, Scotland) is seeking to boost the generating capacity of its proposed Keadby 2 gas-fired plant in North Lincolnshire, England.

The company has applied to the U.K.'s Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to boost capacity to 910 megawatts (MW), up from the consented 820 MW. The current plant was given the green light in 2016 but SSE believes that the project could benefit from the latest in combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) technology.

"The principal reason for seeking to vary the 2016 Consent through the Variation Application is to increase the electrical output of Keadby II from 820 MW to 910 MW to deliver higher efficiency electricity generation," SSE stated. "Recent advances in the design of CCGT have resulted in the availability on the market of larger, more efficient CCGT units, which due to their improved efficiencies, offer both economic and environmental benefits. The increase in electrical output is therefore required to allow for the latest CCGT units to be deployed on Keadby II and to provide sufficient flexibility to accommodate future improvements in CCGT technology."

Industrial Info is tracking the £350 million ($453 million) project, which is expected to kick off in late 2018 with commissioning expected in 2020.

The plant will be based on the same site as the existing Keadby gas-fired plant. The 717-MW plant was brought back online in 2015, two years after being mothballed due to weak electricity prices, in order to help combat a record low of spare generation capacity going into that winter. The plant was also successful in the country's first Capacity Market Auction by securing a contract to provide capacity to 2018-19.

As the country backs away from coal-fired power, the U.K. has a number of key gas-fired projects lined up to help replace lost capacity and back up intermittent renewable energy. Earlier this month, RWE npower (Swindon, England) announced plans to build one of the U.K.'s largest planned gas-fired power plants at Tilbury in Essex. The 2,500-MW CCGT plant, known as the Tilbury Energy Centre, also includes plans for an optional 300 MW of open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) power generation and an energy storage facility. For additional information, see August 1, 2017, article--RWE Pushes Ahead with Major U.K. Gas-fired Project.

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