Energy giant shelving coal fired power plant

In the face of the economic downturn and after months of protest, energy conglomerate E.ON is putting their plans for a new coal-fired power plant in Kent, England, on hold.

Fri, Oct 09 2009 at 9:37 AM EST

XXX: Police clamp down on Climate Camp in Kent, England. (Photo: World Development Movement/Flickr)

Energy giant E.ON is putting plans to build a giant coal-fired power plant in Kent, England, on hold, blaming the downturn in the economy. Environmental activists hailed it as a major victory after a long campaign against the plant, including a well-publicized naked protest last month that I covered here.

E.ON isn't completely abandoning the plant and said that it could still be built in the right economic conditions. They released the following statement:

"We can confirm that we expect to defer an investment decision on the Kingsnorth proposals for up to two to three years. This is based on the global recession, which has pushed back the need for new plant in the U.K. to around 2016 ... we remain committed to the development of cleaner coal and carbon capture and storage".

This is a good win against new coal and the boondoggle that is CO2 capture and storage (CCS). E.ON was told at the beginning of the year by the U.K. government that the Kent plant would require CCS technology, throwing the financials behind the project out of wack. CCS is an unproven concept that, in this case, contributed to the shelving of the project after it made the cost to produce electricity too high.

This is great news for the environment!

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