Watt Power has secured planning consent from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to develop two gas-fired power projects worth £400 million.

Development Consent Orders (DCOs) have been granted for the Hirwaun Power project near Aberdare in south Wales and the Progress Power project located near Eye in Suffolk.

The two open-cycle gas-fired power generation plants are the first of their kind to be permitted in the UK, each worth £200 million.

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They will be entered into the Government's Capacity Market Auction scheduled for December 2015.

Each gas turbine project has a capacity of 299MW and will operate as 'peaking plants', providing back-up to intermittent renewable generation and at times of high system demand.

George Grant, Director of Watt Power, said: "This is great news for the Watt Power team and the UK Government. Our projects are designed to meet the UK Government’s energy policy objectives of security of supply and affordability and support the country's transition to a low-carbon economy."

Overall, there are eight gas-fired power station applications which have been examined and given development consent, or are currently in the process of being examined under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime.

(LM)