Scottish and Southern Energy is planning to harness the latest in coal-fired power generation with a slice of Britain`s industrial heritage in a move to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The company is linking up with Mitsui Babcock, Siemens and UK Coal to investigate building a 500-megawatt "supercritical" power generation unit at its Ferrybridge power plant in west Yorkshire. The new unit could be supplied with coal from the nearby Kellingley pit shipped in along the historic coal route of the Aire and Calder canal.

SSE said the two engineering companies are carrying out detailed work to determine the scheme`s feasibility. If the project does go ahead it will be in two stages. The first will involve fitting the "supercritical" boiler, which burns coal more efficiently than a conventional coal-fired station, saving around 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. SSE puts the investment at around £250m. Phase two would involve investing a further £100m to capture and store the carbon dioxide that would be produced, saving another 1.7 million tonnes.

"The ability to deploy technology to decarbonise fuel to provide low-emissions generation, while ensuring we are still able to use coal reserves as primary fuel sources, would be of enormous value," SSE`s chief executive, Ian Marchant, said yesterday.

SSE, which has a portfolio of generating assets spanning windfarms, hydro, gas and coal, said yesterday adjusted pre-tax profits rose by almost 20% to £858m last year. SSE`s energy-supply business has around 6.7 million customers, up 600,000 on a year ago, and Mr Marchant repeated his pledge that there would be no further rise this year.

Mr Marchant said he expected prices to fall at some point, but he declined to predict when that would happen. "If you look at the forward gas price for next winter the next price [change] is still up." Mr Marchant acknowledged SSE was considering whether its expertise in energy could be transferred to the water sector and had looked at Thames Water, which has been put up for sale by its German owner, RWE. But he sought to play down the extent of the company`s interest, noting that SSE had not yet made a decision to invest in the industry.
(By Mark Milner, The Guardian, 01/06/2006)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1787064,00.html