EON: CCS qualification boosts Kingsnorth project

London - E.ON's plans to build a coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth has been taken to next stage following the company's inclusion among the four pre-qualifiers in the UK government's carbon capture and storage (CCS competition. The project calls for CCS to be fitted to the planned 1,600mW coal-fired units that the company aims to build next to its existing station in Kent.

“Developing a large-scale carbon capture and storage project in the UK is vitally important to ensure that we can reduce our carbon emissions, ensure security of supply and keep energy as affordable as possible," said Bob Taylor, managing director of Generation at E.ON UK.

“We firmly believe that our Kingsnorth project – which is the only modern, highly efficient coal-fired power station currently in planning – is a strong candidate for this competition. We look forward to supplying the Government with more detail about our plans and hopefully to making Kingsnorth into the world’s first large-scale CCS demonstration plant.”

The company's entry into the CCS competition is supported by a number of partners, including:  Arup, for project management; EPRI - for international technology dissemination; Fluor - as carbon capture technology supplier; MHI - as carbon capture technology supplier; Penspen - for pipeline transportation; and Tullow Oil - for carbon dioxide storage.

E.ON is reducing its reliance on coal and oil by over 2.6GW between now and 2015. This involves shutting 2.9gW of coal power station capacity split between the existing Kingsnorth and Ironbridge power stations, closing its 1.3gW Grain oil-fired power station by the end of 2015 and building two new, more efficient CCS-ready 800mW coal units at Kingsnorth.

Acording to E.ON, it is committed to reducing the carbon intensity of its emissions across Europe by 50% by 2030. This builds on the existing reduction in carbon intensity of 20% since 1990. The company's plans in the UK include a £325-million spend on building the Robin Rigg offshore wind farm in the Solway Firth and £700 million to on build the Humber Gateway offshore wind farm.

E.ON UK is also a joint venture partner in the London Array, the world's largest offshore wind farm and is investing £1billion in gas-fired power stations at the Isle of Grain in Kent and at Drakelow in Derbyshire. It also aims to establish gas storage facilities at Holford, Cheshire and at Aldbrough in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Meanwhile, a High Court decision has awarded legal protection for part of the E.ON Kingsnorth power station site ahead of the 2008 Camp for Climate Action, which is set to run from 4 to 11 Aug. The injunction protects only the operational areas of the site to minimise the potential for incident and secure its ability to supply electricity for over 1.5 million homes and businesses in the south east of England.

"Our prime concern is the safety of everybody at Kingsnorth power station, including anyone who tries to enter the site and interfere with operations. "We're pleased that the Court has placed the most important operational areas of our site under the protection of a pre-emptive injunction," said Graham Clarke, E.ON UK head of business resilience.

"We completely respect the right of individuals to protest, as long as it's done peacefully and within the bounds of the law. I hope that, just as we respect the Camp's right to demonstrate, they in turn will respect our right to operate and provide power for our customers' homes and businesses," added Clarke.