Why has RWE npower changed from investigating a coal-fired station to a gas-fired station?
At the end of 2009 we announced that, given the economic climate at that time, we would not be making an application to build a new supercritical coal-fired power station at our site at Tilbury in Essex. We firmly believe that new, cleaner coal-fired generation should ultimately have a role to play in a low-carbon economy alongside gas, nuclear power and increasingly renewable energy. However, we continue to see the Tilbury site as an important one, both to RWE npower and in terms of future power generation in the UK. Given the existing energy infrastructure and proximity to areas of high demand for electricity, we believe it is an excellent site for power generation. We have therefore reviewed potential options for the Tilbury site, and have taken the decision to investigate options for a new modern CCGT power station at Tilbury.
