E.ON announced that it is to close its controversial Kingsnorth power station in March 2013. The 1,940 MW coal-fired power station, which was originally commissioned in 1970, will cease operations next year because of EU regulations. The EU’s Large Combustion Plant Directive requires plants which not meet the requirements of the Directive in terms of emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SOx) and particulates to close after 20,000 hours of generation or at the end of 2015, depending which comes first.
Alongside the closure of the current Kingsnorth plant, E.ON is withdrawing its application for development consent for two new coal units, which would be fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, at the site. Kingsnorth was one of two schemes shortlisted as part of the Government's competition to build the UK's first commercial CCS scheme. But, with the market still not conducive to building the 1,600MW supercritical power station, it became clear the development could not be completed within the Government's timetable so E.ON announced in October 2010 that it would not proceed to the next stage of the competition.
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