Eggborough Power Station to safeguard 85% of jobs with new National Grid contract

Eggborough Power Ltd has been given a new lease of life after signing a new 12-month SBR* contract with National Grid to provide extra capacity during the winter of 2016/17.

The contract covers 775MW of capacity to be delivered by two of Eggborough’s four units.

This deal will now allow Eggborough Power Station, located near Selby, North Yorkshire, secure up to 235 jobs (85%) for the next 12 months.

Prior to signing the new contract, the coal-fired plant was previously expected to cease generating power at the end of March this year, resulting in the loss of up to 262 jobs.

Eggborough requires around £200m of funding over the next three years to continue to generate power, but this is financially unsustainable for the 53-year-old plant.

However, with this new contract Eggborough will provide power as part of the National Grid’s Supplemental Balancing Reserve scheme, which is designed to provide extra electricity in when there is insufficient capacity in the market to meet demand.

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