The closure follows RWE’s decision to opt the plant out of the EU’s large combustion plant directive (LCPD) in 2008, effectively limiting its lifespan to 20,000 running hours or until the end of 2015.
The plant is a long way off using its allowed hours but RWE has taken the decision to shut 9 months before the end of the year due to the high cost of keeping the plant on standby. A spokeswoman for the generator said the plant would remain operational over the coming winter and spring seasons, when it is most likely to be used.
In recent years the plant has been used only to meet very high winter demand when capacity surplus margins are particularly thin. The UK has lost significant amounts of coal- and oil-fired capacity under the directive and the latest closure will tighten capacity margins further ahead of Winter of 2015/16 when energy regulator Ofgem warned the UK could face an increased risk of blackouts.
When the market fails to bring forward enough output the National Grid can call on standby plants to ramp up generation based on the best price offered by the generator. At present RWE have unit two of Littlebrook available to run at a price of £275/MWh, compared to prevailing winter baseload power price of around £51.30/MWh.
The last time the unit was used was November 2013 when a relatively sharp drop in wind power meant the unit was needed to help meet peak evening demand. Prior to this, the plant ran in December 2012 as gas-fired power tested its intra-year record, causing within-day power blocks for evening delivery to trade at around £258/MWh.
The newly confirmed closure date marks the end of oil-fired power in the UK, following the closure two years ago of E.ON UK’s 1.3 GW Grain oil-fired plant and RWE npower’s 1 GW Fawley plant in March 2013.