ScottishPower plans £500m power station

Published on Wednesday 11 March 2009 20:16

SCOTTISHPOWER has unveiled plans for a new gas-fired power station in Kent, capable of supplying electricity to more than 1.5 million homes.

The 500 million project – Damhead Creek 2 – would see the construction of a 1,000Mw station alongside ScottishPower's existing Damhead Creek facility, near Hoo, more than doubling the site's capacity.

Yesterday, the Glasgow-based company, part of Spanish utility giant Iberdrola, said construction of the plant would create up to 1,000 jobs over three years, while the completed station would employ 50 people, injecting some 27m a year into the local economy.

The plant requires approval from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, with ScottishPower planning to apply for permission before the summer.

ScottishPower chief executive Nick Horler said the site next to its existing plant, which has been in operation since 2001, was ideally situated, and there was a need to invest in generation.

Horler said: "There is an immediate need to invest in new generation plants in the UK as older power stations come towards the end of their operational lives."

The group said its plans for the new station would allow for the easy addition of carbon capture technology.

ScottishPower generates about 2,000Mw from Damhead Creek and its two other gas powered stations, Hoddeston in Hertfordshire and Southwick in West Sussex.