German energy group RWE has agreed to sell its 420 MW Lynemouth coal-fired power plant in the United Kingdom to EP UK Investments (EP UK), a subsidiary of Czech energy group Energetický a prumyslový holding (EPH).
In December 2015, the European Commission cleared British plans to grant subsidies to the conversion to biomass of the 420 MW Lynemouth coal-fired power plant in the United Kingdom. The plant, commissioned in 1972, was acquired in 2012 by RWE, which planned to convert the plant to biomass within the next 18 months. The project will benefit from the contracts-for-difference (CfD) electricity pricing mechanism to support the project until 2027.
Drax, the operator of the largest coal-fired power plant in the United Kingdom, is also awaiting state aid approval by the European Commission to convert a third unit to biomass.
EPH holds assets in power and heat generating companies and energy distribution and sales companies in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany (mining). The group is the second largest power generation company in the Czech Republic and increasingly active on the European power market, through successive acquisitions, including the acquisition of E.ON's thermal power generation assets in Italy (about 3.9 GW in gas-fired capacity and 600 MW of coal-fired power capacity) in 2014. In November 2014, it acquired the 1,960 MW Eggborough coal-fired power plant in Goole, in the United Kingdom, which will stop operations in March 2016.
Interested in Power Plants?
Enerdata has developed a market research service to screen, monitor and analyse the development of power generation assets.
Power Plant Tracker offers an interactive database and a powerful search engine covering power plants worldwide – including both installed and planned capacities for renewables and fossil fuels.