Environmental Impact
In 2003, Longannet was named as Scotland's biggest polluter in a report by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). The station produces up to 4,350 tonnes of ash per day. This is piped to ash lagoons on the nearby Preston Island, where it is stored in former salt pans. This is then landscaped and used to reclaim the land from the Firth of Forth.
To improve environmental emissions, Longannet is now fitted with 'Low-NOx' burners to limit the formation of oxides of nitrogen and a 'Gas Reburn system' that uses natural gas to convert NOx into nitrogen and water vapour. Longannet also burns up to 65,000 tonnes of treated and dried sewage sludge per year, which has a similar calorific value to low-quality brown coal. In 2005, a judge ruled the burning of sludge as illegal, but the SEPA continues to allow Scottish Power to burn the sludge illegally as part of an agreement which requires Scottish Power to construct, and have in operation, a biomass plant in 2010.
In 2007, the WWF named Europe's 30 most climate polluting power stations in absolute terms; of these, Longannet was the most polluting in the UK (relative to power output).
The UK's first ever carbon capture and storage (CCS) unit was commissioned at the station in 2009.
Read more about this topic: Longannet Power Station
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