Teesside Power Station welcome emissions rule
Jul 30 2010 by Kelley Price, Evening Gazette
BOSSES planning a major green upgrade of Teesside Power Station have welcomed a Euro move to give plants more time to comply with emissions targets.
Euro MPs who voted for the Industrial Emissions directive earlier this month were criticised by environmentalists that claimed the slow-down was a ticket for the UK to cling onto dirty power generation.
But North-east business leaders say the directive, which sets out stricter emissions targets for 52,000 industrial and farming sites, is vital to avoid a UK energy crunch in coming years.
The directive gives power stations until 2016 to reach emissions targets, but also allows member states to use “transitional national plans” that give large combustion plants up to July 2020 to meet the rules. Some older plants need not comply with emissions targets at all provided they close before 2023, or after completing 17,500 operation hours post-2016, whichever is the soonest.
Teesside’s 1875 megawatt plant - the largest combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) station in Europe - supplies 3-4% of the entire power needs of England and Wales and employs up to 600 on Teesside.
Plant owners, French power company Gdf Suez, is costing a re-powering programme, but the work is not imminent.
A five-year extension to upgrade plans was granted by Redcar and Cleveland Council in April.
Plant manager Paul Atkinson said: “The flexibility offered by the directive will certainly help security of supply - without this, it would be difficult for the UK to meet the 2016 date for cutting industrial emissions further.”
“We want to take advantage of new technology, which has moved on to become faster, cleaner and more efficient. Gas is still a very clean and flexible fuel.”
Sarah Green, North-east regional director of the CBI, said: “This vote is good news. It will allow a smooth and sensible transition to increased use of low-carbon energy sources.
“The alternative would have meant forced closure of many existing power stations without sufficient time to build replacements. This could have seriously undermined the UK’s energy security.”
See Tuesday’s nebusiness pullout for a full report on what the directive will mean for Teesside’s power plants.
