Halt called on two new gas-fired generators

TWO NEW gas-fired generating projects have been cancelled, according to the National Grid Company. The schemes include plans by National Power for a large power station at Didcot in Oxfordshire, and a smaller plant proposed by Southern Electric at Fawley, writes Mary Fagan.

The two schemes are the largest to be cancelled so far. The news comes within days of a report by the Trade and Industry Select Committee that called on the Government to restrict the use of gas in electricity generation in order to save thousands of coal miners' jobs.

The select committee said that when plants were approved in future, preference should be given to those not promoted by National Power or PowerGen.

National Power and Southern Electric played down the significance of the NGC statement. National Power said that it cancelled the grid connection for Didcot to avoid NGC charges. The generator is still waiting for the outcome of a public inquiry on the station, which took place a year ago.

Southern Electric said it remained committed to three plants including the Thames Power joint venture at Barking in East London.

Meanwhile, the Public Accounts Committee has suggested the Government has failed in its aim of increasing share ownership through electricity privatisation. Reporting on the sale at the end of 1990 of the 12 regional electricity companies, the committee said that the level of shareholdings had since fallen from 9 million to 3 million.