Amec and Alstom share £108 million

Amec and Alstom have been awarded £108 million by RWE npower to fit technology that will reduce sulphur emissions at the Aberthaw coal-fired power station near Barry, South Wales.

The project is driven by the requirements of new European environmental regulations due to come into force in 2008. It involves fitting air pollution control technology that will improve Aberthaw's environmental performance, safeguard the station's future and provide a boost to the local economy.

Amec, whose share of the contract is £64 million, will be responsible for overall project management of on-site engineering and construction, detailed civil and structural design together with engineering design of the off-site utilities plant.

Alstom is the process technology provider of the air pollution control equipment, which features a seawater flue gas desulphurisation (SWFGD) system for the power station's three 500-megawatt generators. Aberthaw produces around a third of South Wales' electricity.

Design is underway, with civil engineering work at the power station scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2006. The project will be completed in the first quarter of 2008. Flue gas desulphurisation plants remove approximately 95 per cent of the sulphur dioxide produced when generating electricity from coal.