England's Rugeley Coal-Fired Power Station to Close in June

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Citing deteriorating conditions for coal-fired power in the U.K., French energy firm ENGIE (EPA:ENGI) (Paris, France) will close its 1,050-megawatt (MW) Rugeley coal-fired power plant by the end of next month.

Industrial Info first reported on the company's plans to close the unprofitable plant in February. For additional information, see February 15, 2016, article--ENGIE to Shut Unprofitable Rugeley Coal-Fired Plant in the U.K..

"This decision was due to the deterioration in market conditions for U.K. coal-fired power generation and is in line with ENGIE's strategy to move towards a less carbon-intensive energy system," the company stated. "Following consultation with employees and unions, ENGIE is now confirming that Rugeley will cease operations by the end of June 2016. ENGIE is planning a staged reduction in the number of employees on site in line with its decommissioning plan. There will be no compulsory redundancies before end of June."

It added: "The closure of coal-fired generation capacity in the U.K. reflects a wider energy transition that is taking place towards a less carbon-intensive and more decentralised energy system."

Rugeley was commissioned in 1970 and employs around 150 staff. The company said that enabling works for decommissioning have commenced, and it expects that the full decommissioning of the plant will last up to nine months. Demolition of the plant will take approximately three years.

In March, Scotland's last coal-fired plant, Longannet, was shut down after 46 years of service. The 2,400-MW plant was operated by ScottishPower Ltd. (Glasgow, Scotland), part of Spanish energy major Iberdrola S.A. (BMAD:IBE) (Bilbao, Spain), and supplied enough power for 2.3 million homes annually. For additional information, see March 25, 2016, article--Scotland Shuts Last Coal-Fired Power Plant.

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