Engineering news
One of Europe's biggest coal-fired power stations in Europe is to close next March, because it is “uneconomic” to run, its owners Scottish Power have said.
Longannet power station, which opened in 1972, has a capacity of 2,400 MW and directly employs 236 people. The plant, which was originally scheduled for closure in 2020, missed out on a contract earlier this year with the National Grid for grid balancing services.
Scottish Power blamed high carbon taxes and high transmission charging for the closure. Neil Clitheroe, chief executive of retail and generation at ScottishPower, said: “This is a sad day for ScottishPower, and for our highly-skilled and committed team at Longannet. We have explored every potential option to keep the station open, and we still maintain that Longannet could continue generation in to the next decade under the right economic conditions.”
“Our main focus now is consulting with staff to ensure we find the best outcomes possible for all of the 236 impacted employees, many of whom have spent their entire career at the station. ”
The company said a number staff will be redeployed to other areas of the ScottishPower business, while early retirement and redundancy packages will be available to the remaining staff.
Trade union Prospect, which represents engineering and technical staff at Longannet, described the closure as a “body blow” for its members and Scotland's hopes of remaining self-sufficient in energy generation.
Richard Hardy, a Prospect negotiator, said: “It is extremely disappointing that it has not been possible to put in place ways of keeping Longannet open until its original planned closure date. National Grid has forecast very tight margins for power supply this winter so removing a station that generates enough electricity for two million homes is senseless.
“Our members are paying the price for a mechanism that rewards companies building power stations near to London and penalises those in Scotland. Scotland generates 12% of the UK’s total power yet pays 35% of the transmission charges. That is not a good deal for either companies or the customer.”
ScottishPower also confirmed that it would not be progressing with the planned development of a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine plant at Cockenzie in Scotland because of high carbon taxes and transmission charging costs. However the construction of a gas power station at Damhead Creek in Kent is to go ahead as the company's 714 MW wind farm off the coast of East Anglia.