A HUGE gas-fired power station due to be built in Hampshire is likely to start operating in 2009, the Daily Echo can reveal.

The £400m plant, which will generate enough electricity to supply 800,000 homes, will be constructed on part of an industrial park in Normandy Way, Marchwood.

Work on the 850-megawatt complex is due to start early next year and will take about 29 months.

Five hundred people will be involved in the massive construction project, and the power station itself is expected to create 35 jobs.

The 220ft-tall plant will be built by Marchwood Power Ltd, which is owned by ESB International the Republic of Ireland's state electricity company.

Project spokesman Paul Taylor told the Daily Echo: "It will be one of the first power stations to be built in the past five years, certainly in the south, and will help with the security of supply."

The waterfront facility will be built next to Marchwood's new energy-from-waste incinerator.

Ward councillor David Harrison said HGVs going to and from the power station during its construction would be banned from travelling through the village.

He added: "The new building will extract water from the nearby River Test.

"The water will be discharged upstream, heated to about eight degrees higher than the original temperature, but special measures will be in place to minimise the impact on fish and marine life.

"There will be some visual impact, with two stacks 220ft high.

"But there won't be a need for a new line of pylons because the power station will mostly use existing pylons, and the gas pipe to the site will be completely buried."

Cllr Harrison spoke out after meeting representatives from Marchwood Power and receiving an update on the scheme's progress.

He added: "The power station will provide an efficient, clean and secure means of generating electricity.

"Marchwood Power want to proceed in a responsible manner and have already given a great deal of thought to any impact on local residents."