Nigel Adams MP, whose constituency contains both Eggborough and rival for biomass subsidies Drax, met chancellor George Osborne last week to appeal for support, according to sources close to the matter.
While he would not directly comment on the meeting, Adams told Utility Week he was “extremely hopeful that a resolution for Eggborough can be found” and “it is far too important a project for the UK to let go”. The Treasury did not respond to a request for comment.
Eggborough Power has officially scrapped plans to give the old 2GW coal plant, which represents 4 per cent of UK generation capacity, a new lease of life by converting it to run on biomass. Cancellation of the investment, worth around £750 million, sets it on course to close by 2015, making 800 workers redundant.
The move followed December’s shock decision by the Department of Energy and Climate Change to ration subsidies available in the “go-early” process. Eggborough was missed off the list of projects expected to fit in the budget, losing out to Drax’s biomass conversion.
However, chief executive Neil O’Hara qualified the closure notice with “unless a viable solution is found with government”.
Investors need assurance the plant is be in line for subsidies if the biomass conversion goes ahead. That could be achieved by ministerial intervention on security of supply grounds or a reassessment of the go-early list to prioritise project readiness. Eggborough is “shovel-ready”, whereas other projects on the list have yet to get the necessary consents.
Eggborough bosses are understood to have met with representatives of Number 10, the Treasury and the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills as well as the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) in their attempts to get the project back on track before it is too late.