“They are close to a deal, it should be signed soon,” said one source close to the coal-fired plant. He declined to give financial details of the planned deal. Fifoots Point, one of the UK’s newest power plants, went into administration after a slump in wholesale power prices following UK power market reforms in 2001. Administrators KPMG declined to comment. Carron could not be reached for comment.
Fifoots Point, which was commissioned in 2000, has been idle after the recent expiry of a contract between KPMG (KPMG.UL: Quote, Profile, Research) and utility RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) under which RWE operated the plant last winter, one of the sources said.
The planned sale of Fifoots Point comes after a recovery in electricity prices, driven partly by higher coal and gas prices and by new rules restricting emissions of carbon dioxide from power stations.
German-owned utility E.ON (EONG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) UK will restart its 900-megawatt Killingholme power plant in eastern England next year due to higher prices, the company said last week. The plant has been mothballed since March.