RWE npower has taken the decision to halt work on the development of a biomass-fuelled power plant at Tilbury Power Station whilst options on project feasibility are assessed and reviewed. In 2008, the decision was made to opt-out the then coal-fired power station, on the banks of the River Thames in Essex, from the EU’s Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD), meaning that the plant would shut after 20,000 hours of operation or by the end of 2015.
In 2010, RWE’s quest for continuous innovation in large-scale energy generation technologies allowed the decision to use these remaining hours of operation to trial Tilbury Power Station as the largest biomass power station in the world. With an electrical output of 750 MW the station was converted to run on 100% sustainably-sourced biomass. The trial of Tilbury on biomass under existing environmental legislation has been a success both commercially and technically.
During 2012, applications were made for work to bring the Tilbury site up to new plant standards and create a dedicated biomass power station that would be operational for the long-term. However, today RWE Generation SE, RWE’s umbrella company for generation and power plant investment in the UK has made the difficult decision to halt progress on this project. The current plant will close as announced under the LCPD legislation on 31 October 2013.
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