RWE's Didcot gas power unit in UK returns to service after fire

* Unit operating at 50 pct of capacity

* Cost of fire single-digit million pounds

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - RWE (Xetra: 703712 - news) has restarted its Didcot B5 gas-fired power unit in Britain, nine days after a fire forced it to shut down, the company said on its website on Wednesday.

One of two at the Didcot B power plant, the unit is operating at 50 percent of its 700-megawatt capacity, RWE said.

The fire started on Oct. 19 and damaged a cooling tower. {ID:nL6N0SE15W]

The cost of repairs will be "in the region of single digit million pounds", Roger Miesen, head of hard coal and gas on the RWE Generation board said in a statement.

The fire was the third this year at a fossil fuel-fired power station in Britain.

After a fire in February, E.ON (Eon (Taiwan OTC: 3411.TWO - news) gn.de) has decided not to bring back on line a 370-MW unit at its Ironbridge power station in central England.

In July, two units at SSE (LSE: SSE.L - news) 's one-gigawatt (GW) Ferrybridge coal plant in West Yorkshire were shut after a fire.

The return to operation of the RWE unit comes one day after grid operator National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) warned that Britain faces tight power supply this winter.

"Didcot B, as part of RWE Generation's wider fleet, has an important part to play in contributing to the UK's security of supply," Miesen said. (Reporting by Susanna Twidale; editing by Jason Neely)