Longannet power station
{{#Badges: CoalSwarm|Navbar-UnitedKingdomandcoal|Navbar-cleancoal}}Longannet Power Station was a 2,400-megawatt coal-fired power station owned and operated by Scottish Power in Scotland.
The coal-fired power station was retired in March 2016.[1]
A 330 MW carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) demonstration project at the Longannet Power Station was proposed in 2008 and cancelled in 2011.[2]
Contents
Location
The undated satellite photo below shows the power station in Fife, Scotland.
Background on existing plant
The 4 x 600 MW subcritical power station was commissioned in 1970.[3]
In March 2015 Scottish Power said it plans to close the Longannet Power Station by March 2016, after a gas-fired power station was granted a £15m electricity supply contract from the National Grid, rather than Longannet.[4]
Estimated cost of air pollution from plant
A 2011 analysis by the European environment agency (EEA), 'Revealing the costs of air pollution from industrial facilities in Europe,' estimates that air pollution from industry costs Britain £3.4bn-£9.5bn a year in health and environmental damage. When CO2 costs are included, the figure rises to £9.5bn-£15.5bn. The industrial facilities covered by the analysis include large power plants, refineries, manufacturing combustion and industrial processes, waste and certain agricultural activities. Emissions from power plants contributed the largest share of the damage costs (estimated at €66–112 billion).
A small number of individual facilities cause the majority of damage costs. Three quarters of the total damage costs were caused by the emissions from just 622 industrial facilities – 6 % of the total number. Longannet Power Station, Cottam, Ratcliffe Power Station, and West Burton power stations together emit more than 30m tonnes of CO2 and other pollutants and cost the economy up to £2.3bn a year.[5]
Proposed replacement
Faced with an aging plant, Scottish Power proposed to build a new coal-fired power station.[6] In October 2011 the UK government announced "a decision has been made not to proceed with Longannet but to pursue other projects with the £1bn funding made available by the government."[7]
Demise of the project
In October 2011, the Guardian reported that "construction of a £1bn prototype carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at Longannet in Scotland is on the verge of collapse." Scottish Power, and its partners Shell and the National Grid, said they had just completed a detailed study of the CCS scheme and have deep concerns about its commercial viability without heavier public backing. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) had promised £1bn of public money but the developers are understood to be arguing that they cannot proceed without more money to trial the scheme. Both sides insist "talks are ongoing" but the Guardian reported that well-placed industry and political sources say the process is "pretty much over" and a statement to that effect could be expected shortly.
A Decc spokesman said Longannet was only one CCS project and the government still planned to choose by the end of the year another three that could be eligible for European Union funding.[8]
In October 2011 the UK government announced "a decision has been made not to proceed with Longannet but to pursue other projects with the £1bn funding made available by the government."[9]
In November 2011, BBC reported that Scottish Power put the cost for the plant at £1.5bn. The UK government is considering funding the Peterhead Carbon Capture and Storage project.[10]
Project Details of proposed demonstration project
- Sponsor: Scottish Power
- Parent company: Iberdrola
- Developer:
- Location: Fife, Scotland, UK
- Coordinates: 56.09465, -3.682265 (exact)
- Status: Cancelled
- Gross Capacity: 330 MW[2]
- Type: Post-combustion (Aker Clean Carbon's technology) arbon capture and storage[2]
- Start date:
- Coal Type: Hard coal
- Coal Source:
- Source of financing:
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ "Rapid decline of coal use leads to drop in UK emissions," Guardian, Mar 31, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Longannet Fact Sheet: Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Project," Carbon Capture & Sequestration Technologies @ MIT, accessed October 2014
- ↑ Department of Energy and Climate Change, "Power stations in the United Kingdom, May 2012", Department of Energy and Climate Change, May 2012. (This link is to an Excel spreadsheet).
- ↑ "Longannet power station to shut next year," Guardian, March 23, 2015
- ↑ "Industrial air pollution cost Europe up to €169 billion in 2009, EEA reveals" European environment agency, Nov 24, 2011.
- ↑ James Richens, "King coal promises to clean up", ENDS Report 396, January 2008, pp 26-29.
- ↑ Hanna Gersmann and Fiona Harvey, "Longannet carbon capture project cancelled: Last remaining project in government competition for CCS funding scrapped as partners fall out over funding", The Guardian, October 19, 2011.
- ↑ Terry Macalister and Damian Carrington, "Flagship UK carbon capture project 'close to collapse'" The Guardian, Oct. 6, 2011.
- ↑ Hanna Gersmann and Fiona Harvey, "Longannet carbon capture project cancelled: Last remaining project in government competition for CCS funding scrapped as partners fall out over funding", The Guardian, October 19, 2011.
- ↑ "Carbon capture plan for Peterhead" BBC, Nov. 9, 2011.
Related SourceWatch Articles
- Carbon Capture and Storage
- Carbon Capture and Storage demonstration projects worldwide
- Carbon Capture and Storage in the United Kingdom
- United Kingdom and coal
