The power station will comprise four units, each around 400 MW, and Alstom has been appointed as main contractor with construction expected to start later this year and the first unit operational by 2010.
The new power station will require an investment of £600 million ($1.2 billion).
The decision follows an announcement earlier in the year that the company was considering either Staythorpe or Pembroke in South Wales as the site for a new gas-fired station. Staythorpe, which already has Section 36 approval for a plant, a gas pipeline and other infrastructure already in place, will now be RWE npower’s lead CCGT project.
RWE npower received planning consent for Staythorpe in 1993 and began construction on the site of two older coal-fired stations in 1998. Construction was put on hold in 2000 as the market was considered not sufficiently buoyant. Around 10% of the power station scheme has already been constructed including the gas pipeline, significant foundations and perimeter roads.
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