E.ON Shuts Ironbridge Power Plant in England

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The Ironbridge coal-fired power plant in Shropshire, England, has been disconnected from the grid after 46-years of service.

The plant, which is owned by Europe's largest energy company E.ON SE (XETRA:EOAN) (Düsseldorf, Germany), generated its last electricity as environmental rules forced the closure. Commissioned in 1969 and having burned coal for most of its generating life, the plant was converted to burn biomass in 2012 to qualify for renewable energy subsidies. It is the latest in a growing number of conventional power plant closures in the U.K. over the past 12 months, a number that has prompted fears that the U.K. may face winter power cuts as its spare capacity dips to its lowest point in a decade. For additional information, see July 23, 2015, article - U.K. Risks Winter Blackouts as Power Stations Close.

Ironbridge, which had a generating capacity of 335 -megawatts (MW), had reached its 20,000 hours limit of generation under the Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD). Earlier this year, E.ON announced the closure of its 900-MW Killingholme combined-cycle gas-turbine (CCGT) power station in the U.K., after it failed to win a power contract from the National Grid's Supplemental Balancing Reserve (SBR) service. For additional information, see July 9, 2015, article - E.ON Shuts Killingholme Gas-Fired Plant in U.K..

Tony Cocker, E.ON chief executive, said: "I'm hugely proud of the contribution Ironbridge Power Station has made to the U.K.'s energy infrastructure for almost half a century. The closure of such an iconic plant will of course be tinged with sadness, having played such an important role in the community--over 400 people worked on site when Ironbridge was at the peak of generation, many from the local area. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported the ongoing operations and maintenance at the plant, and our continued focus will be supporting those colleagues who are directly affected by today's closure."

The news comes as the U.K. government announced plans to close all coal-fired plants by 2020. For additional information, see November 23, 2015, article - U.K. Calls Time on Coal-Fired Power.

In April, the oil-fired Littlebrook Power station in Kent, England, which has a generating capacity of 1,475 -MW, was taken offline by owner RWE nPower plc (Swindon, England), part of RWE AG (XETRA:RWE) (Essen, Germany), after 34 years of operation. For additional information, see April 9, 2015, article - RWE Shuts Littlebrook Power Station in U.K..

A month later, Scottish utility SSE plc (LSE:SSE) (Perth, Scotland) blamed rising costs, falling profits and stricter environmental rules for its decision to close the 2,000-MW, coal-fired power plant at Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire, England. For additional information, see May 25, 2015, article - Rising Costs Force Closure of Ferrybridge Power Plant in England.

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