E.ON has flicked the switch on its newly-built combined heat and power gas-fired power station on the Isle of Grain in Kent.

The station, which E.ON claims is one of the most efficient power plants in the UK and one of the largest CHP schemes in the world, has generated electricity and synchronised with the National Grid for the first time.

A commissioning phase will now continue before it goes fully operational later this year.

Once up and running, the £500m, 1,275MW station will generate enough electricity to supply one million homes and also feature an innovative CHP scheme that provides ‘waste’ heat in the form of hot water to the National Grid’s nearby liquefied natural gas terminal.

The export of 340MW of waste heat will result in a reduction of up to 350,000 tonnes of CO2 each year by the terminal and allow Grain to achieve an overall efficiency of up to 72%.

E.ON UK chief executive Paul Golby said: “Grain will serve as a model for future developments as it will help significantly reduce the amount of carbon produced by the UK energy industry.”