Hot on the heels of last week’s news that E.ON have put their plans for Kingsnorth on hold comes further encouraging news for the campaign to end the use of dirty coal. The Danish energy company DONG have announced that they are pulling out of plans to build a new coal-fired power station at Hunterston on the Clyde.
My colleague, Aedan Smith, head of planning for RSPB Scotland has commented; "We're glad that DONG Energy have seen sense and dropped their plans to build a hugely polluting coal plant on the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at Hunterston. The development would have built this dirty power plant on 95 hectares of the best remaining inter-tidal mudflats left on the Clyde, home to important populations of waders, geese and swans.
We urge the other partner in this proposal, Peel Energy, to forget about highly polluting coal energy and focus on delivering badly needed renewables. Recent research has shown that Scotland's energy needs can be fully met using well sited renewables. After E.ON postponed plans for a new coal plant at Kingsnorth last week, at last it seems as if developers are coming to the same conclusion as conservationists - until carbon capture technology is completely proven, new coal simply doesn't make sense financially, or environmentally."
This is another strong signal that dirty coal has had its day It’s time to stop putting the cart before the horse and get carbon capture and storage to a stage of development that makes burning coal credible in the context of tackling climate change.