ConocoPhillips announced Friday that they will invest $400 million to expand the capacity at its British Immingham Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant by 450 megawatts (MW), from 730 MW to 1,180 MW. Commercial operation of the expanison is slated for summer of 2009.
The expansion would make Immingham CHP, which began operation in late 2004, one of the world’s largest, most efficient power stations and an additional source of low carbon heat and power for the U.K.
Immingham CHP, by combining the production of heat and power, uses 20 percent less fuel and produces 25 percent less carbon than producing the heat and power separately. Immingham CHP will be contributing 12 percent toward the U.K.’s CHP target of 10 gigawatts by 2010.
If economically feasibile, the expanded Immingham CHP might be modified to utilize gasification technology to operate as a ‘clean coal’ facility with carbon dioxide stored or used for enhanced oil recovery.