Aug 6 2010
Foster Wheeler AG (Nasdaq: FWLT) announced that a consortium, including its Global Engineering and Construction Group, has received an order from E.ON UK plc to support the front-end engineering design (FEED) for a post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and compression plant proposed as part of E.ON’s planned new supercritical coal-fired power station in Kent, England, UK.
Foster Wheeler’s consortium partner for the carbon dioxide capture element of the project is Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) of Japan.
E.ON is planning to replace its existing coal-fired units at Kingsnorth Power Station with two new high-efficiency 800 megawatt coal-fired units using the latest supercritical technology, which E.ON has said will produce power from coal more efficiently than ever before in the UK. The planned CO2 capture plant will be designed to separate and capture CO2 from flue gas generated by the new coal-fired units, enabling the CO2 to be transported and stored permanently within a depleted gas reservoir under the North Sea.
The Foster Wheeler contract value for this project was not disclosed and will be included in the company’s third-quarter 2010 bookings.
E.ON UK is one of two groups competing in the UK Government’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition to build one of the world’s first industrial-scale CCS demonstration plants. The UK Government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change has recently confirmed E.ON’s progression to the next stage comprising a FEED study.
The overall FEED activities will further develop the proposed CO2 capture and compression project at Kingsnorth and will involve engineering and design studies following which the competition winner will be selected by the UK Government. Foster Wheeler and MHI have already completed the pre-FEED.
“We are delighted to continue to play a key role in this landmark project, planned to include one of the world’s first industrial-scale plants capturing CO2 from flue gases and the UK’s first supercritical units,” said Umberto della Sala, president and chief operating officer, Foster Wheeler AG. “We believe that the combination of our expertise in delivering innovative, technically optimized engineered solutions and MHI’s leading CO2 recovery technology will continue to add significant value for E.ON as it progresses in its objective to win this competition.”