Energy chiefs plot to revive gas power plants

ENERGY bosses are vying to bring two mothballed gas-fired power stations back into action as power prices soar.

The Severn Power station in South Wales and Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire had been run by Calon Energy, which went into administration in June 2020. The two stations were taken out of the generation market but remained under the control of directors Jeff Holder and Scott Magie.

The pair believe the time is now right to get the plants back into the market, with record high gas and power prices amid squeezed supplies.

“We believe it can be economically viable,” said Mr Holder. “Although the price of gas is high the price of power is also high – it’s the difference between the two that matters.” They say they have been “urgently” trying to work with government and National Grid to bring them back into the market. Workers at the plants are making a “herculean effort” and could have the plants back online by Christmas.

The stations could provide 1.7GW of capacity at a time when supplies are stretched due to factors such as maintenance of nuclear plants and a shutdown of coal plants.

National Grid is forecasting a winter margin – the buffer between supply and peak demand – of 3.9GW, or 6.6pc, with a range of between 4.2pc and 8pc.

That would be the weakest buffer since 2016 and lower than it predicted in July, after a fire knocked out a cable importing power to Britain from France, putting the UK perilously close to an energy crisis. Gas-fired power sta- tions supply about 40pc of UK electricity, an amount that varies day by day depending on other sources such as wind power.

Yesterday combined cycle gas turbines similar to the Severn Power and Sutton Bridge plants were generating 54.3pc of British power, with coal another 2.8pc.

National Grid is working towards being able to run the system without using gas-fired power for at least a couple of hours at a time by 2025, under efforts to decarbonise.

But gas is likely to have a role in the system for years, even beyond the new 2035 government target date for decarbonising electricity. Mr Holder and Mr Magie believe their plants could make a long-term return to the market.