RWE npower are hosting a public exhibition to illustrate their proposals for a gas-fired power station in Tilbury.
RWE npower is a leading integrated UK energy company and is part of the RWE Group, one of Europe’s leading electricity and gas companies. They serve around 6.7 million customer accounts and produce around 8% of the electricity used in Great Britain.
To give the local community an opportunity to find out more about their proposals for a gas-fired power station at Tilbury, they will be holding the following public exhibitions:
23 August and 7 September – Woodville Halls, Woodville Place, Gravesend
24 August and 8 September – Tilbury Community Association Centre, Civic Square, Tilbury
All events will be open from 3pm – 8pm.
Information available at the exhibitions will include:
The history of Tilbury Power Station to provide background and context
Details of the proposed CCGT plant and associated gas pipeline
Preliminary Environmental Information
They are investigating options for a new modern combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station with a main unit capacity of around 2,000MW. In addition, there could be up to 400MW of open cycle gas turbine plant (OCGT) which would provide flexible generating capacity to support the management of peak electricity demands. The new station would be constructed within their site at Tilbury, near the existing Tilbury ‘B’ Power Station, which is due to close by the end of 2015.
A spokesperson said: “A new gas-fired power station would maintain Tilbury’s position as a crucially important site for energy generation in the UK and would help secure the country’s energy supplies for future generations.
“A new power station at Tilbury would be a compact industrial facility. The main CCGT plant could have a total generating capacity of up to 2,000MW, enough electricity for three million homes. If the project were to go ahead, a new station is likely to take approximately three years to construct.
“The Tilbury site is ideal to help deliver new generating capacity in the UK as it already houses Tilbury ‘B’ Power Station, and so has existing connections to the national electricity grid.
Replacing the coal-fired Tilbury ‘B’ with a gas-fired CCGT plant would bring a number of environmental benefits. The main products of the combustion of natural gas are CO2, water vapour and nitrogen oxides (NOx). However, the plant would be fitted with the latest technology to minimise the production of NOx and would be carbon capture ready. Furthermore, there would be no ash or dust, and natural gas contains virtually no sulphur.
In line with the Government’s aspirations for power stations to be carbon capture ready (CCR), we would identify an area of the site for the potential fitting and enablement of carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies (CCS) in the future, if and when this technology becomes viable.
One option that may be considered is the potential development of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology at the site. IGCC is the process where coal can be turned into a gas and used as a fuel for the CCGT power station, with the resulting CO2 being captured and removed for storage under the North Sea.
