Work has now started on the Marchwood Power Station, located in the industrial park. Set to be complete in 2009, the 850MW gas-fired power station will be the cleanest and most efficient natural gas fired power station in the UK. The station will directly employ about 40 people.

Since January, the site has been cleared, levelled and raised and a new high voltage electricity transmission tower has been erected. This will join the existing high-voltage network that runs from Marchwood to Totton and onwards into the National Grid.

The main site foundation work is scheduled to start this month, and work on the main buildings of the power station will begin in November. At all times, Marchwood Power and its contractors led by Siemens will endeavour to keep disturbance levels to a minimum as well as adhere to the traffic management plan which keeps HGVs to a fixed route into and out of the site.

Construction of the new electricity sub-station has started. A Southampton company, Trant, won the contract to carry out this work.

Work on the local area electricity distribution network, undertaken by Scottish & Southern Energy, is expected to be completed by June and work on the new gas pipeline is underway. The pipeline, 14 miles long, will supply natural gas to the power station from the main gas hub at Lockerley near Salisbury. Crossing farmland, the M27, stretches of Network Rail as well as local roads, we aim to keep disturbance and traffic restrictions to a minimum. We expect the pipeline work to reach Marchwood in September, with the pipeline finished by the end of the year.

As General Manager of Marchwood Power, Richard Holman has overall responsibility for the plant’s construction and operation. Richard has joined from Seabank, a similar type of power station near Avonmouth. Richard has worked in the power industry for over 20 years, and was running Seabank for 10 years before being appointed to Marchwood Power.

It will be part of Richard’s job to recruit people to work at the plant and he has already been approached by people from the area and further afield to work at the plant. The company has also received numerous requests from local businesses seeking to supply the power station – from a local B&B offering accommodation to a high-precision engineering firm.

As well as generating power to over 1 million homes, employing people directly and providing work to local businesses, supporting the local community will be an important part of Marchwood Power’s operations. Establishing links with local schools, to promote energy in education, is to be given priority and a school liaison officer is expected to be appointed in the autumn.

The Power Station Working Group, consisting of members of the parish, district and county councils as well as “non-aligned” residents will continue to meet with Marchwood Power throughout the construction period. The purpose of the meeting, held every 8-12 weeks, is to provide a forum to share information about the development of the power station and discuss any issues of concern. Meetings were held in January and April, and the next meeting will be held in June. County Councillor David Harrison chairs the working group.

We will continue to provide regular updates on the progress of the power station but, in the meantime, if people have any questions about the power station, please visit our website (www.marchwoodpower.com) or contact us at Marchwood Power via: