The proposals, submitted by subsidiaries of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), and ScottishPower, are seen as crucial for the continued development of wind capacity in Scotland. The replacement line will provide capacity for around 2,300 MW, allowing long-term exploitation of the resource.
The Public Inquiry is expected to continue for most of 2007, with a final decision due in 2008.
Meanwhile, SSE and RockTron have concluded an agreement which will lead to the construction, at SSE’s Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station in Cheshire, of the first plant in the UK to separate ash into constituent mineral parts for sale as cement substitute products and industrial minerals. Construction work is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2007, with the plant becoming fully operational in the summer of 2008.
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