240 jobs to be lost as Eggborough announce shock closure plans
End of an era on cards a Eggborough due to close in March next year.
District
Hopes of a brighter future for Eggborough Power Station look to have been dashed tonight as the plant's operator announces plans are being drawn up for its closure.
The shock announcement by Eggborough Power Ltd comes as the firm begins a consultation with its 240 full-time employees over plans to cease generation at the 2 GigaWatt plant by March 2016.
The move comes just ten months after the station's future looked to have been made secure when it was acquired by Energetický a průmyslový (EPH), a Czech energy firm making its entry into the British marketplace.
But now the company says it would need to find an extra £200 million to keep its turbines generating power over the next three years. This, they say, is financially unsustainable.
Eggborough has had a troubled recent history of closure threats and funding short comings. The latest bad news comes on the back of knock-backs for government grant funding that would have allowed for a conversion to cleaner biomass energy generation.
The plant is responsible for supplying around 4% of the UK's power to the national grid every year. This figure is roughly equivalent to enough power to supply two million homes.
Eggborough's closure, combined with the already announced shuttering of nearby Ferrybridge (also 2 GigaWatt), will leave a massive headache for national energy policy makers in Whitehall.
They must now formulate a plan that will ensure the security of the national energy supply to keep the lights on amidst a backdrop of ageing, end-of-life power stations versus rising demand for electricity.