Environmental group Greenpeace Tuesday blocked the construction of German public utility company RWE AG's (RWE.XE) planned coal-fired power plant in the Netherlands .

Greenpeace also took legal steps to halt the construction work.

Last Wednesday, a Dutch court annulled RWE's permits for the construction of the plant in Eemshaven--near the Dutch Wadden Sea --for environmental reasons, saying the utility needs new permits to complete construction.

However, last Friday, regional authorities ordered that RWE's Dutch unit Essent could continue the construction.

A Greenpeace spokesman said it is illegal for the company to continue the construction as this requires valid permissions which RWE doesn't have.

RWE has been building the 1.6-gigawatt, double-block plant since 2009, with a total investment of more than EUR2 billion. Earlier this month RWE said it expected the plant to begin operations in 2014.

However, this is now in question. The Greenpeace spokesman said the environmental group has asked a court to grant a preliminary injunction to ban RWE from continuing the construction work.

An RWE spokeswoman confirmed there is a blockade and added that the company has asked law enforcement authorities to clear it for security reasons--as in an emergency no ambulances or fire brigades could reach the construction site.

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