ENERGY group Innogy's planned sale of the Fawley power station near Southampton has fallen through, the group said today.

Innogy had planned to sell Fawley to energy group Independent Power UK for more than £42m - but the sale agreement lapsed and the station will now remain in Innogy's ownership.

A spokesman for Innogy said the deal - announced in January - lapsed because IPUK had failed to obtain a generating licence for the plant within an agreed period.

However, while Innogy, which owns the npower electricity and gas business, was "disappointed" the sale had not been completed, it is not searching for a new buyer.

It said since the new electricity trading arrangements came into force earlier this year, the plant's position has improved and the group was "well-placed to continue to extract value from Fawley".

The spokesman said there were no plans to close or sell the station.