E.ON's Ironbridge plant to close permanently

E.ON confirmed that the Ironbridge Power Station in Shropshire will stop commercial generation on Friday afternoon and will close down permanently after 46 years of service.

The German utility said a small team will now begin the decommissioning phase, which is due to run until early 2017, ensuring the plant is shut down safely and the site is secure.

Once this process is complete, a decision will be made regarding the future of the Ironbridge site and E.ON said it will provide updates as appropriate.

Chief executive Tony Cocker said: “The closure of such an iconic plant will of course be tinged with sadness having played such an important role in the community – over 400 people worked on site when Ironbridge was at the peak of generation, many from the local area.”

The plant was originally designed to run on coal and at full capacity was capable of generating up to 1000 megawatts from two 500MW units. It was later converted to biomass and electrical output was reduced to 740MW. However, only one of the two units has been operational following a fire in 2014 and capacity was further reduced to 370MW.