Scottish Coal-fired Plant Loses Local Support

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- One of Scotland's leading 'clean coal' projects has lost the support of the local council.

The planned 1,600-megawatt (MW) Hunterston coal and biomass fired power plant is to be located next to the ageing Hunterston B nuclear power plant in North Ayrshire, and is one of the U.K.'s leading carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. North Ayrshire Council first voiced its objections to the controversial project in November and this week it voted to remove all mention of the power station from its Local Development Plan. Despite this development, the project could still get the green light from the Scottish government, which has the final say.

The move is another blow to fossil-fuel powered plants in Scotland, This week, the Scottish government outlined how it plans to generate at least 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Although traditional power plants will play a role in the future energy mix, the government only expects to green light 2,500 MW of fossil-fuel powered projects in that timeframe.

The Hunterston project is being developed by Ayrshire Power Limited (Glasgow, Scotland), a wholly owned subsidiary of Peel Energy (Manchester, England). The Hunterston project is being developed by Ayrshire Power Limited (Glasgow, Scotland), a wholly owned subsidiary of Peel Energy (Manchester, England). If it goes ahead Ayrshire Power claims it will be able to capture up to 90% of its CO2 emissions and promises that it will burn to 25% less coal than typical coal-fired plants. It will be capable of generating enough power for approximately 3 million homes.

Hunterston is one of six U.K. CCS projects that have just recently been cleared by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to move forward to the next stage of its €4.5 billion ($5.9 billion) funding competition. For additional information, see March 6, 2012, article - U.K. Carbon Capture Projects Closer to E.U. Funding.

Carbon capture and storage projects look set to accelerate in the U.K. over the coming year, despite a slow start. The U.K. government, following years of delay, looks set to start backing commercial scale CCS projects with its promised €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) funding competition. It recently published a contract notice in the European Union's (E.U.'s) official journal calling for proposals covering a wide range of carbon capture related projects. For additional information, see March 2, 2012, article - U.K. Prepares to Spend €1.2 Billion Carbon Capture Fund.

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