Five gas-fired power stations are to close over the next 16 months because they are no longer profitable.

They include Essent’s Moerdijk plant, which chiefly serves the industrial port area and which will close in February 2018. Four smaller facilities in Erica, Klazienaveen, Den Bosch and Bergen op Zoom operated by Essent’s parent company, German energy giant RWE, will cease production in December.

A spokesman for RWE said it had no option but to close Moerdijk, which has a 339-megawatt capacity. ‘This is not an easy decision because in technical terms these are excellent facilities, but they are no longer viable in the current market conditions,’ he said.

Last week Engie, a subsidiary of by GDF Suez, closed two of its five units at the Eemscentrale plant near Delfzijl, Groningen. It blamed declining demand and the growth of alternative energy sources such as solar and wind.