Row over plan for new coal-fired power station

A furious row has erupted over a plan to build Britain's first coal-fired power station for more than 20 years.
The energy company E.ON UK wants to replace existing coal-fired units at Kingsnorth power station in Medway, Kent, with two new cleaner units.

The company claims the £1 billion project would produce power from coal more efficiently and more cleanly than ever before in the UK providing enough energy to supply 1.5 million homes while cutting carbon emissions by almost 2m tons a year.

Councillors in Medway have backed the plan but the final decision will rest with the Government.

If the plans are approved the plant could be up and running by 2012. But the proposals angered environmental groups who said a new coal-powered plant would inevitably damage plans to cut the UK’s CO2 emissions.

They said it would be better to invest the money in more sustainable energy projects such as wind power.

Paul Golby, E.ON UK's chief executive, said the company was committed to reducing its carbon emissions by half by 2030.

"This particular investment is significantly more efficient than conventional coal plants and that is equivalent to taking about half a million cars off the road," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

As well as building the new plant the company is hoping to design and build a carbon capture demonstration scheme where greenhouses gases would be stored in disused North Sea oil and gas fields rather than being pumped into the atmosphere.
By Paul Eccleston

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