U.K. Approves Wind, Gas Turbine Energy Projects

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The U.K. government has given the green light to two new energy projects designed to help increase the country's energy security. Permission has been granted by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) for the construction of a 900-megawatt (MW), combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant by Spalding Energy (Spalding, England) and a 56-MW onshore windfarm on the Ray Estate, near Kirkwhelpington, Northumberland.

"About a quarter of the U.K.'s generating capacity is due to close by 2018, and we need to ensure that we secure the investment to replace that," said Energy Secretary Charles Hendry. "In securing this investment, energy security will be at the forefront of our minds, and a diverse supply is crucial to that. Today's announcement is a double boost for our energy security."

The new gas-fired plant will be south of the existing Spalding Energy Power Plant in the town of Spalding in Lincolnshire, an 860-MW CCGT that has been running since 2004. Run by Spalding Energy, a subsidiary of U.S. energy company InterGen (Burlington, Massachusetts), it uses General Electric's GE 9FA+e gas turbines, NEM heat-recovery steam generators, and an Hitachi steam turbine. The proposed expansion will cost about 589 million euros ($803 million) and will be capable of generating enough power for approximately 2 million homes. InterGen operates 12 power plants in the U.K., the Netherlands, Mexico, the Philippines and Australia, with a combined generating capacity of 6,231 MW. It operates two other CCGT plants in the U.K., at Rocksavage in the north east and Coryton in Essex.

Hendry added: "Not only will the plant in Spalding provide a significant amount of base-load electricity, the waste heat could also be used locally. We have made it a condition of the consent that the developers must install the necessary plant and pipework to enable the station to supply waste heat to local users if the opportunity to do so materializes."

One of the other key conditions attached to the Spalding planning permission was that sufficient space is left available adjacent to the power station for retrofitting a carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant at a later date. Just last week, the government announced that it was opening its multi-billion euro competition for CCS funding to gas-fired plants for the first time. For related news, see November 15, 2010, article - U.K. Opens Carbon Capture Funding to Gas-Fired Plants.

DECC also has granted permission to Swedish company Vattenfall AB (Stockholm) for a 56-MW windfarm at the Ray Estate, near Kirkwhelpington, Northumberland. The original planning lodged in 2005 was for a 60-MW facility using 20 turbines of 3 MW each, but this was changed to 56 MW, with 16 turbines rated at 3.5 MW each.

"Windfarms have a key role to play in boosting energy security and cutting carbon emissions, as long as they are well designed and appropriately sited," Hendry said. "Developers at Ray expect the windfarm to provide enough green electricity to power around a quarter of Northumberland's households."

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