Greenpeace Capture Power Plant… what, are we at war

Just after 5 a.m., on Monday the 8th of October, a group of Greenpeace environmentalists laid siege to Kingsnorth coal fired power station in Kent. Their plan was simple, and effective. Get in, and shut it down.

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From the Greenpeace Press Release on the day;

One group immobilised the huge conveyor belts carrying coal into the plant then chained themselves to the machinery. A second group is climbing up the chimney, with supplies to hold it for several days and force the power station off the national grid.

This came in response to the British government's decision to build the nation's first coal powered power plant in over 30 years. No immediate action was taken by the police or station owners, German energy giant E.O.N. However they were working closely, with a representative for E.O.N. saying that "Greenpeace has every right to express their views, but we don't think this is the right way to do it." However, a day later the protest was cut short, as a "gentlemen's agreement" was arranged between E.O.N. and the protestors. Their plan was to paint "Gordon Bin It" (Gordon being Gordon Brown, Britain's Prime Minister) on one of the large chimneys. However, it looks as though Greenpeace chose their target well. The power plant was not critical to the nation's power supply, and did not cause any blackouts. But three of the four 485-megawatt generation units did drop to 230-megawatt on Monday afternoon, providing Greenpeace with a small win. Believed to be the fifth biggest polluter in the UK, emitting over 20,000 tonnes of carbon daily, Greenpeace believes that the station--which is only running at 45% efficiency--could reach 95% efficiency if the heat generated by the station was supplied to the homes as electricity. "Instead of climate wrecking coal fired power stations, Brown should be investing in energy efficiency, renewable energy and decentralised energy," said Greenpeace energy expert Robin Oakley outside the power station. "For example, the London Array offshore wind farm will provide energy for 750,000 homes. Let's see more projects like that instead of outdated, dirty projects like Kingsnorth 2." Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.