UK: Scottish & Southern Energy delays natural gas power plant, citing weak demand

Scottish & Southern Energy (S&SE) has decided to delay the completion of its proposed Abernedd gas-fired power plant by two years to the end of 2015, with a final investment decision to be taken next year at the earliest.  The delay will allow the company to assess the impact of the UK governments electricity market reforms.

The proposed generating capacity of the plant has been dropped to 450MW, from the initial 870MW. S&SE said that it had the decision in the light of a challenging medium-term outlook for the UK energy market.

The utility announced in February that it was mothballing its 123MW gas-fired power plant near Cardenden, Fife, due to market conditions combined with “very high” electricity transmission charges.