£400m power station plans backed

January 31, 2007

Yipeee!..........well at least it isnt nuclear............ Plans to build a £400m power station in Newport have passed a critical hurdle after they were given the go ahead by city councillors. Carron Energy Ltd wants to build a gas-fired plant on the River Usk next to the Uskmouth power plant. The company said it would create 650 jobs during construction with up to 60 permanent jobs on completion in 2010. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will still need to give final approval for the project. The privately-owned electricity generating company took over the coal-fired Uskmouth power station after it went into receivership in June 2004, and re-opened it last autumn. Severn Power is a major contribution to the Welsh Assembly's aim of energy self-sufficiency for Wales Alex Lambie, Carron Energy Ltd The firm first unveiled proposals for the new gas-fired plant 18 months ago, and the application was approved by Newport council's planning committee on Wednesday. It would be known as Severn Power and would generate 800MW of electricity, alongside the existing plant. The plant would take 30 months to build. Chief executive of Carron Energy, Alex Lambie, said the plant would be good for south Wales because customers paid "some of the highest prices

in the UK" because of the need to import energy. He said: "Severn Power is a major contribution to the Welsh assembly's aim of energy self-sufficiency for Wales, and will help create more than 650 skilled jobs. "We have consulted extensively with all the interested environmental bodies, and pride ourselves on the fact that Severn Power has been specifically designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible." There has been a power plant on the banks of the Usk for nearly 50 years, with the old Uskmouth A coal-fired power station demolished in 2002. Peter H

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