Cockenzie Power Station

Cockenzie Power Station was a 1,152 megawatt supercritical coal plant owned and operated by Scottish Power. The plant, which was first commissioned in 1967, was closed in March 2013.

Background
In November 2001 the European Union's Large Combustion Plant Directive came into force. The Directive aims to reduce emissions of "acidifying pollutants, particles, and ozone precursors" in order to "combat acidification, eutrophication and ground-level ozone". The Directive regulates emissions from combustion plants with a thermal capacity of greater than 50 megawatts.

In the United Kingdom, the implementation of the Large Combustion Plant Directive requires that plants either install flue gas de-sulphurisation (FGD) equipment or 'opt out' and shut down when they have run for an additional 20,000 hours between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2015 or at the end of 2015. (Note: the total number of hours in a year is 8,760.)

The Cockenzie Power Station is a plant which Scottish Power have decided to 'op out' of upgrading and, as of January 2012, had been run for over 80% of its allowable hours.

It was announced in October 2011 that the plant will close by March 2013, but is slated to switch from coal to natural gas.

Closure
The plant ceased generating electricity on March 15, 2013.

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * United Kingdom and coal

External resources

 * Scottish Power, "Cockenzie Power Station", Scottish Power brochure, August 2002.