Scottish and Southern Energy plc (Scottish and Southern Energy) planned the construction of energy projects that include a pumped storage facility beside its Sloy hydroelectric power station near Loch Lomond and a gas-fired power station in Wales. As part of the plan the company decides to purchase Abernedd Power Company Limited (Abernedd Power) from BP plc, for the construction of a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station with a capacity of 870 megawatt (MW).
In place for the first phase, Scottish and Southern Energy’s planned CCGT power station on a brownfield site at Baglan Bay in southern Wales, comprise key electricity transmission, gas and water infrastructure. The company would build the plant in two phases, the first comprises a 435-MW unit would be operational by around 2013, while a second unit planned by 2016 will be of similar capacity.
Ian Marchant, the chief executive of Scottish and Southern Energy, said Thermally-efficient gas-fired power stations will make a crucial contribution to meeting this country’s energy needs over the next two decades, as the move to lower carbon power production gathers momentum. Abernedd’s site at Baglan Bay offers an ideal position for a new power station and will be a flexible development to complement our core investment in renewable sources of energy.
Mostly through joint ventures and partnerships, Scottish and Southern Energy operate gas-and oil-fired plants with 4,500 MW of capacity for generating electricity. Scottish and Southern Energy has 50% stake both in 350 MW gas-fired plant in Corby, Northamptonshire, with E.ON AG (Dusseldorf, Germany) and in a new 840 MW CCGT power station in Marchwood, near Southampton, which will be commissioned soon in 2009. The company’s gas-fired power generation would increase to 5,300 MW with the addition of Marchwood capacity and the first phase of the Abernedd facility.
The company’s next proposed project is for the development of a 60 MW pumped storage scheme is beside its 152 MW Sloy hydroelectric power station, near Loch Lomond. Presently the production at Sloy is approximately 120 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity per year. Sloy can additionally generate 100 GWh of electricity by converting it to a pumped storage facility. The project is valued at around EUR 30 million.
The company plans a 540 megawatts (MW) windfarm. The company and Viking Energy Limited submitted application for 150-turbine, 540-MW windfarm on the Shetland islands off the Scottish coast. The application would track five years for research, analysis and consultation and has an expected annual output of around 2 terawatt hours. The development of the farm depends on receiving an undersea cable connecting Shetland to the electricity transmission system on the Scottish mainland.
Scottish and Southern Energy focuses on generating 4,000 MW of energy from renewables by 2013. It has renewable generation of around 1,700MW, with the company owning the Clyde windfarm in southern Scotland and a major stake in the Griffin windfarm in Perthshire. The company has 50% stake in the 500-MW Greater Gabbard wind farm presently under construction in the outer Thames Estuary.