Marchwood Power Station Near Southampton Opens for Business

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The 500 million euro ($697 million) Marchwood power station near Southampton in the U.K. has been officially powered up by joint owners Scottish and Southern Energy plc (OTC:SSEZY) (Perth, Scotland) and ESB International, the subsidiary of Ireland's state-owned Electricity Supply Board (ESB) (Dublin).

Work on the 842-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle gas-turbine (CCGT) power station was completed last month. The facility is the first CCGT plant to be built in the U.K. in five years. For additional information, see December 14, 2009, article - Scottish and Southern Energy To Fire Up Marchwood CCGT Plant.

Marchwood Power will generate enough power for more than 1 million homes across Southampton, the New Forest and Winchester. The plant claims a thermal efficiency of more than 58%, making it one of the most efficient in the U.K. Marchwood has taken three years to complete and was constructed by Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany), which supplied two gas turbines, a steam turbine and three generators. Siemens also provided the mechanical equipment, including two heat-recovery steam generators, electrical equipment, instrumentation and control equipment, and a 22-kilometre gas pipeline to connect the plant to the national gas transmission network. The plant will have an operational life of 25 years, and all of the power produced is contracted to SSE.

ESB Chairman Lochlann Quinn, and Lord Smith of Kelvin, chairman of SSE, officially opened the plant and were joined by senior executives from both companies, including ESB Chief Executive Padraig McManus and the chairman of Marchwood Power Limited, Graham Juggins.

"The opening of Marchwood Power is a significant milestone in the expansion of ESB's presence in the U.K. energy market," said McManus. "In addition, our wind generation interests and other gas-fired development projects place ESB on course to achieve its target of providing over 3-gigawatts of generation capacity in the U.K. within the next 10 years.

"With the anticipated emergence of a single U.K.-Irish energy market over the next decade, our U.K. generation interests, along with our established presence in Ireland, will ensure that ESB is well-positioned to respond to the market challenges and opportunities that are likely to arise," he said.

Graham Juggins said: "The Marchwood Power venture between Scottish and Southern Energy and ESB is a state-of-the art modern clean plant and is an important addition to our portfolios. It represents the excellent cooperation between the two companies that ensured its delivery on budget."

The addition of Marchwood takes SSE's electricity generation portfolio to more than 11,500 MW.

RWE npower (Swindon, England), part of energy giant RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany), is currently building the U.K's largest CCGT plant in Pembroke Dock, Wales, with Alstom SA (EPA:ALO) (Levallois-Perret, France). Located on the site of a former oil-fired power station, the plant will have a generation capacity of 2,000 MW. For additional information, see related April 28, 2009, article - Alstom to Build U.K.'s Biggest Combined-Cycle Power Plant. Alstom is also finishing a state-of-the-art 1,650-MW CCGT in Staythorpe, Nottinghamshire, due for commissioning later this year. For related news item see June 6, 2007 article - RWE Selects Site for 1,650 MW CCGT United Kingdom Power Plant.

Just last month, the company submitted a planning application to build another 2,000-MW CCGT facility in Willington, Derbyshire, on the site of the former Willington A and B power stations. For additional information, see related December 15, 2009, article - RWE Plans 2,000-Megawatt CCGT Power Plant in England.

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