New hope for stalled green energy scheme as potential buyers emerge

ONE of the most world’s most ambitious green energy schemes could yet go ahead in Yorkshire after administrators confirmed they have received 10 expressions of interest from potential buyers looking to take over the beleaguered project.

Plans to construct the world’s biggest “clean coal” power station at Hatfield, near Doncaster, and create thousands of new jobs along the supply chain were thrown into doubt in December when the energy firm behind the scheme, Powerfuel, went into administration.

The proposed 900MW plant at Hatfield Colliery would generate enough electricity to power almost a million homes, while creating only a fraction of the carbon emissions of a traditional coal-fired power plant with most of the harmful CO2 siphoned off.

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Although the project beat off rival UK proposals to secure a £160m European Union grant in December 2009, Powerfuel plc subsequently failed to raise the further funds from private backers and fell into administration.

The project has enormous long-term significance for Yorkshire, with regional planners hoping it will be the first step in constructing a carbon capture and storage network stretching from the Aire Valley to the banks of the Humber, with underground pipelines taking harmful CO2 gases from every major polluter out into the North Sea where they can be safely buried underground.

Concerns have grown that such a scheme would never get off the ground without the Hatfield project to trial the technology.

Powerfuel’s administrators KPMG have now said they have received 10 formal expressions of interest in the business.