German utility E.ON has revealed plans to build a 'clean coal' power station in the UK in a move that mirrors a similar decision taken by rival RWE a few weeks ago.
The Independent newspaper reports that E.ON is plotting to use carbon sequestration technology to bury emissions from the plant in offshore former gas or oil fields. The GBP1 billion plant is to be built near Killingholme in Lincolnshire, in eastern England, and E.ON hopes to have the plant in operation by 2011.
RWE’s plans envisage the construction of its own clean coal station at Tilbury, on the banks of the Thames near London. E.ON’s announcement marks a further step in the rehabilitation of coal as a significant player in the power generation mix, aided undoubtedly by the evolution of technology that allows carbon emissions to be buried underground or in the sea.