LONDON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The first new coal plant in Britain in 30 years may be using clean technology and come online by 2013.
Centrica, which owns British Gas, announced it wants to construct an 800 megawatt coal plant on Teeside, The Independent reports.
The $1.9 billion project is one of three proposed coal plants for Britain. The Centrica proposal would use all British coal and provide power for a million households.
But the plant would use integrated gasification combined cycle technology, capturing and transporting CO2 from the coal, reducing emissions by more than a third compared to regular coal plants.
If the permit process goes as planned, Centrica officials say construction on the plant will start in 2009 and it would go online by 2013.
Both Powergen, a subsidiary of Germany's E.ON, and npower, a division of RWE, are looking at building coal plants.
Centrica serves 13 million customers with gas and electricity in Britain.
