The process will provide the public with further details on the proposals which have been “refined” following the first stage of the consultation which took place during September and October last year.
Since then, the company has made decisions regarding the specific location of the power station on the site, the size and appearance of the main buildings and structures, and the route of a new pipeline to connect the plant to the gas transmission network. It has also increased the capacity of the plant by 500MW.
“This represents the next stage in the lengthy and complex process of developing a new power station at the site and we are looking forward to engaging further with all interested parties and to receiving their views on the proposals,” said the firm’s managing director Adam Booth.
The consultation will last into February and a number of public exhibitions will be held close to the site next week. Eggborough Power is aiming to submit an application for a Development Consent Order in the spring/early summer and get a decision from the business and energy secretary in autumn next year. The plant will be up and running by 2022 at the earliest, by which point the existing coal plant on the site is expected to have been decommissioned.
The plant was at one point due to close in March 2016 but received a 12-month reprieve in February after being contracted to provide back up over the current winter season through National Grid’s Supplemental Balancing Reserve.