Gas power

E.ON UK, the company that runs Powergen, has put in an application for government consent to build a new £350m gas-fired power station at Drakelow in Derbyshire.

The new Drakelow plant would be built on the site of the old coal-fired power station and would be a modern CCGT.

Rated at 1,220MW, the station, which would consist of three units, would produce enough power for around a million homes.

If the application is successful, work could start straight away with the first power being produced in 2009 at the earliest.