Ferrybridge Power Station (Proposed Supercritical)

Ferrybridge Power Station (Proposed Supercritical) was a 800 megawatt supercritical coal plant proposed by Scottish and Southern Energy to be built at the site of the existing Ferrybridge C Power Station. In early 2008 there was no known notional commissioning date.

In October 2007, Scottish and Southern Energy unveiled its future generation plans. In particular it stated that:


 * "In May 2006, SSE established a partnership with Doosan Babcock Energy, Siemens and UK Coal with a view to the possible installation at Ferrybridge of a 500MW Supercritical Boiler and Steam Turbine, while re-employing existing coal handling facilities and other major infrastructure. As stated in SSE’s Preliminary Results in May 2007, however, costs across the power equipment sector have risen and the required level of investment for this project has proved to be significantly greater than originally expected. Against this background, SSE will not proceed with this project.


 * At the same time, SSE has concluded that there is still likely to be a need to replace that capacity at Ferrybridge which is scheduled to close in 2015. It has decided to examine the options for doing this, focusing on an 800MW unit using the Supercritical Boiler technology. This would secure a significant improvement in the thermal efficiency, from around 37% for the existing plant to around 45%, and deliver a significant reduction in the amount of CO2 per kilowatt hour of electricity produced. Any plant would also be made ‘capture ready’, enabling it to be fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. Key issues in considering the options will include the price of carbon emissions allowances and the availability of turbines. As a result, any new coal plant is unlikely to be commissioned before 2014, with a decision to be made around the turn of the decade. SSE will now focus on gaining consent for this unit."

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