E.ON Shutting U.K. Kingsnorth Coal-fired Plant

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- The Kingsnorth coal-fired power plant in Kent, England, is to shut almost two years earlier than expected to comply with European Union (E.U.) emissions rules.

The decision was announced by E.ON UK, a subsidiary of German energy major E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany). The plant, with a generating capacity of 1,940 megawatts (MW), is one of the U.K.'s largest coal-fired plants and has been operating for more than 40 years. The company claimed that the plant will have to close by March next year in order to comply with the E.U.'s Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD), which requires that it must shut down after generating for 20,000 hours from 1 January 2008 or, at the end of 2015, whichever comes first.

The plant closure will result in the loss of 123 jobs and is being blamed largely on the higher generation rates required during the harsh winter of 2010.

"Kingsnorth has played a huge part in powering the country for many decades," stated Dr. Tony Cocker, CEO of E.ON UK. "I want to pay tribute to the thousands of men and women who have worked at the station over its lifetime, bringing light and warmth to the homes and businesses of the UK. We've been working hard with colleagues at the station to help, guide and support them through the process which will be ongoing until the station closes. In addition to our colleagues we will be communicating with the local community in the coming weeks about our closure plans."

Kingsnorth was originally commissioned in 1970 will have reached the end of its allocated running hours by next March. The plant closure also sounds the death knell for the company's troubled carbon capture and storage project, which it postponed back in 2010. For additional information, see October 25, 2010, article - E.ON Drops U.K. Carbon Capture Project.

E.ON has spent the last few years fighting fierce resistance to its plans to build a new 1,600MW supercritical power station on the Kingsnorth site with CCS technology. The company said it is withdrawing its application for development consent for two new coal units, with CCS. Kingsnorth was one of two schemes shortlisted as part of the U.K. government's competition to build the country's first commercial CCS scheme.

Cocker explained: "As a group we believe CCS can become an important step in the transition to a low-carbon generation mix with the right regulatory, technological and economic support. We're promoting CCS Research & Development across Europe by partnering with universities and by testing carbon-capture equipment at several of our power stations across Europe. Lessons from our projects will be shared with the UK and the entire E.ON Group".

View Plant Profile - 1078259

View Project Report - 78000531

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.