E.ON BENELUX halts work on new power station
Rotterdam, 10 March 2008 - E.ON Benelux feels obliged to temporarily halt construction of its new coal/biomass-fired power station on the Maasvlakte. This follows a decision by the President of the Judicial Division of the Netherland’s Council of State of 28 February 2008.
The President of the Judicial Division rendered a decision on 28 February following a request by the environmental organisation Greenpeace to oblige the provinces of South Holland and Zeeland to “enforce compliance” in regard to the construction activities by E.ON. E.ON had already commenced these activities in the assumption that a licence was only required for the operation stage. In the opinion of the President, the provinces should take a well-considered decision as to whether E.ON might continue these activities, despite the fact that no application for a licence had yet been made for the construction phase, whereas in the opinion of the President this should have been done.
Rather than waiting for enforcement measures by the provinces E.ON felt obliged to halt its activities forthwith, at least in so far as this is justified from safety and environmental angles. E.ON regards the need to make this decision as highly unsatisfactory given the very high costs involved and the hazards to timely completion of the power station. This could also endanger timely provision of electricity to the energy intensive industry – for which contacts have already been agreed recently.
In E.ON’s opinion, the provinces could have relinquished compliance enforcement in that granting of the licence was imminent and parties had agreed that the construction activities would have no negative effect whatsoever on the natural environment.
The decision to halt construction does not signal an end to all future work at the power station site on the Maasvlakte. Construction work on the current power station will be continued in order not to endanger delivery to the neighbouring company, Lyondell. However, the preparatory activities for the new power station will be reduced in a controlled manner until such time as the licence is granted. We except to receive the decision on this within five weeks.
E.ON Benelux focuses on production and supply of electricity, heat and gas to both private and commercial customers. The company has 1,870 MW in place in the Netherlands. In December 2006, E.ON announced that it would construct a coal/biomass-fired power station (approx. 1,100 MW) on the Maasvlakte. There have been rapid advances in the technology around coal-fired power stations, with major improvements compared to existing coal-fired power stations. This will enable very high environmental standards with an around 20% more efficient combustion process. Bonuses from the enhanced efficiency will include a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour compared with the existing coal-fired power stations. The power station, which is to be operational in 2012, will comply with the toughest environmental demands and will be prepared for trapping CO2.