Kingsnorth Power Station

Kingsnorth Power Station was a four x 485 megawatt unit power station with an installed capacity of 1940 megawatts located on the Medway Estuary in Kent. It is owned and operated by E.ON UK. The plant ceased generation on the 17th of December 2012, having consumed all its remaining operating hours allowed under the European Union Large Combustion Plant Directive.(For details of E.ON's now cancelled proposal for a 1600 megawatt supercritical coal power station at the site of the existing plant, please see Kingsnorth Power Station (Proposed).)

Background
Each of its four main units, which were constructed between 1963 and 1973, can be fired with either coal or oil.

As a result of the European Union Large Combustion Plant Directive the four existing units of this power station will be closed. However, under the directive legislation Units 1 to 4 can operate for a maximum of 20,000 hours from January 2008 and, at the latest, must be shut down by 2015. E.ON UK propose that the existing units would only be shut down after the commissioning of two new 800 megawatt 'supercritical' coal-fired units. The station's closure is planned for March 2013.

Activist shuts down Kingsnorth Power Station
On November 28, 2008, in full view of security cameras, a single activist climbed two 10-foot, razor-wired and electrified security fences at E.ON's coal-fired power plant and crashed a huge 500MW turbine, leaving behind a banner that read "no new coal." All power from the plant was down for four hours, which cut the UK's CO2 emissions by an estimated 2 percent. Police are still searching for the activist.

10 activists board ship delivering coal to Kingsnorth Station
On June 21, 2009, ten Greenpeace activists boarded a ship delivering coal to the Kingsnorth Power Station. The group used inflatable speedboats to target the boat as it sailed up the River Medway in Kent. All 10 protesters were arrested and charged with conspiring to commit criminal damage and having an unauthorized presence on a ship.

Closure
The power station ceased generating electricity on December 17, 2013 after having used it allotted 20,000 hours of generation after opting out of the European Union Large Combustion Directive.

E.ON's In-House Media Managers

 * Jonathan Smith, PR & Media Relations Manager
 * Emily Highmore, Senior Press Officer

Citizens Groups Campaigning on Kingsnorth

 * World Development Movement's Stop Kingsnorth website
 * iCount
 * Greenpeace (UK)
 * Climate Camp
 * Christian Aid
 * Campaign against Climate Change
 * People and Planet
 * Medway Green Party
 * Red Alert!

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Advanced Power Technology Forum
 * British Coal Utilisation Research Association
 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Carbon Capture and Storage demonstration projects worldwide
 * Carbon Capture and Storage in the United States
 * Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
 * UK Coal
 * Coal Authority (UK)
 * David Cameron on Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Department of Trade and Industry (UK)
 * Scottish Coal
 * British Geological Survey
 * European Union Large Combustion Plant Directive
 * United Kingdom and coal
 * Very low sulphur coal

2007

 * "Greenpeace shuts down coal fired power station", bex's blog, October 8, 2007.

2008
/www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Activists-vow-to-shut-Kingsnorth-during-protest-newsinkent13875.aspx "Activists vow to shut Kingsnorth during protest"], KentNews.Co.uk, June 18, 2008.
 * "Activists to use river armada to storm Kingsnorth", KentNews.Co.uk, June 19, 2008.
 * "Is your part of Kent set to sink?", KentOnline, June 24, 2008.
 * "Climate Camp's response to E.ON's request to meet", ''Indymedia.org (UK), June 30, 2008.
 * "Energy giant's High Court victory against climate campaigners", KentOnline, June 30, 2008.
 * John Vidal, "No smoke without ire: The Guardian, June 25, 2008.
 * John Vidal and David Adam, "Old king coal", The Guardian (UK), July 2, 2008.
 * "Energy giant seeks court protection from activists", KentOnline, July 2, 2007.