Power firms to build new stations

Power station construction is a divisive topic

Three power companies have received government permission to build new power stations which could provide up to four million households with energy.

Ministers say the stations built by RWE, Powerfuel Power and Centrica Leasing will help secure energy supply.

Pembroke, King's Lynn, in Norfolk, and Hatfield, in South Yorkshire, have all been earmarked for the projects.

It is hoped the plants will boost the ailing UK economy and provide much-needed employment amidst the downturn.

"Investment like this in the energy sector will create new engineering and construction jobs," said Energy and Climate Change minister, Mike O'Brien.

"These power stations will generate energy for four million homes for decades to come."

Economic lift

RWE npower will use the site in Pembroke to build its £1bn combined cycle gas turbine power station. King's Lynn will be the site for Centrica Leasing's combined cycle gas turbine power station while Powerfuel Power plans to construct an integrated coal gasification gas-fired power station in Hatfield.

RWE npower, which expects to begin building shortly, anticipates the creation of some 2,000 jobs at the height of construction. Additionally, it will provide 100 long-term operational positions and inject £10m a year into the local area.

RWE npower chief executive, Andrew Duff, said the programme would provide jobs "at a time when the UK government [has a] stated ambition to bring forward investment to support the UK economy".

But not all were convinced that the decisions made environmental sense.

Graham Meeks, director of the Combined Heat and Power Association, said the stations would contribute to satisfying the forecast shortfalls in the UK's electricity supply, but future strategy should be to find alternatives to building power stations that "waste more than half the energy they consume".

will provide electricity to up to four million households.