Ferrybridge power stations | |
---|---|
Country | England |
Location | Knottingley |
Coordinates | 53°43′03″N1°16′50″W / 53.71740°N 1.28058°W |
Status | Operational |
Construction began | A station: 1926 B station: 1955 [1] C station: 1961 Multifuel 1: 2011 Multifuel 2: 2016 |
Commission date | A station: 1927 B station: 1957 C station: 1966 Multifuel 1: 2015 [2] Multifuel 2: 2019 [3] |
Decommission date | A station: 1976 B station: 1992 C station: 2016 |
Operators |
|
Thermal power station | |
Primary fuel | Coal |
Secondary fuel | Biomass |
Tertiary fuel | Gas |
Power generation | |
Nameplate capacity | A station: 125 MW B station: 300 MW C station: 2,034 MW Multifuel 1: 68 MW |
External links | |
Website | www |
Commons | Related media on Commons |
The Ferrybridge power stations were three coal-fired power stations on the River Aire near Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire, England, in operation from 1927 to 2016 on a site next to the junction of the M62 and A1(M) motorways.
The first station, Ferrybridge A, was constructed in the mid-1920s and closed in 1976. Ferrybridge B was brought into operation in the 1950s and closed in the early 1990s.
In 1966, Ferrybridge C power station was opened with a generating capacity of 2000 MW. It had been constructed and was then operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB). After privatisation in 1989 ownership was passed to Powergen, then to Edison Mission Energy (1999), then to AEP Energy Services (American Electric Power) (2001) and finally to SSE plc (2004). In 2009 two of the four units were fitted with flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) plant. In 2013 SSE indicated that the power station would not comply with the Industrial Emissions Directive, requiring the plant's closure by 2023 or earlier. It was later announced that the plant would be fully closed by March 2016. [4]
Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 is a 68 MW multi-fuel energy-from-waste plant at the site which became operational in 2015. [2] Ferrybridge Multifuel 2 is a 70 MW multi-fuel plant built alongside the MF1 plant, which became operational in 2019. [3]
On 28 July 2019, one of Ferrybridge's cooling towers was demolished, [5] followed by a further four on 13 October. [6] The main boiler house, bunker bay and two chimney stacks were demolished on 22 August 2021. [7] The final three cooling towers were demolished on 17 March 2022. [8]
Land at Ferrybridge was purchased by the Yorkshire Electric Power Company in 1917. Plans for a power station were prepared and submitted to the Board of Trade in March 1918. Because of a system change the following year with the Electricity (Supply) Act 1919, the plans were put on hold. The plans were resubmitted to the Electricity Commissioners in January 1920. The plans were finally granted permission in November 1921, but delayed by a supply area reshuffle. [9] A 135 acres (55 ha) site was chosen with good access to coal, water, and good transport links including water transport. [10]
Construction of Ferrybridge A power station began in 1926 and the station began operating in 1927. [11] The initial station covered 32 acres (13 ha) of the site. [10] The main buildings contained the boilers, turbines, and offices and workshops, and a smaller building housed the electrical switchgear. [12] Transport facilities included sidings connected to the Dearne Valley line with equipment for handling wagons up to 20 t, and a river wharf for transport by barge. [10] Wagon unloading was by a side tipper, into an automated weigher and then conveyors, and barge unloading was by a crane into the weighing machine. [13] The cooling water intakes were 550 ft (170 m) upstream of the wharves, initially with two filtered intakes with a minimum capacity (low water) of 3,000,000 imp gal (14,000 m3) of water per hour. [14]
The power generating equipment included eight 75,000 lb (34,000 kg) per hour water boiling capacity water tube boilers arranged in pairs, sharing air draught and chimneys (166 ft (51 m) height). The boilers were designed to produce superheated steam at 315 psi (21.4 atm) at 700 °F (371 °C) [15] The turbine/generator section had two 3,000 rpm three stage reaction turbines driving alternators rated at 19 MW continuous. [16] The alternators produced 50 Hz 3 phase AC at 11 kV, which was stepped up to 33 kV by two sets of three single phase transformers rated at 25 MW per set. [17] [18]
The station passed into the ownership of the British Electricity Authority on the nationalisation of the UK's power industry, with the Electricity Act 1947. This company in turn became the Central Electricity Authority in 1954. The annual electricity output of the A station was: [19] [20]
Year | 1946 | 1960–1 | 1961–2 | 1962–3 | 1966-7 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Electricity supplied, GWh | 468.151 | 541.1 | 545.7 | 549.0 | 485.2 |
The station closed on 25 October 1976, at which point it had a generating capacity of 125 MW. [21]
Ferrybridge A's boiler room and turbine hall still stand today. The buildings are now used as offices and workshops, [11] by the RWE npower Technical Support Group, who are responsible for the maintenance and repairs of power station plant from around the country.[ citation needed ]
Ferrybridge B Power Station was constructed in the 1950s. It generated electricity using three 100 megawatt (MW) generating sets, which were commissioned between 1957 and 1959. The station originally had a total generating capacity of 300 MW, but by the 1990s this was recorded as 285 MW. Ferrybridge B was one of the CEGB's twenty steam power stations with the highest thermal efficiency; in 1963–4 the thermal efficiency was 32.34 per cent, 31.98 per cent in 1964–5, and 31.96 per cent in 1965–6. [22] The annual electricity output of Ferrybridge B was: [22]
Year | 1959–60 | 1960–1 | 1961–2 | 1962–3 | 1963–4 | 1964–5 | 1965–6 | 1966-7 | 1971–2 | 1978–9 | 1981–2 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Electricity supplied, GWh | 1,484 | 2,029 | 1,954 | 1,921 | 2,065 | 2,014 | 1,912 | 2,009 | 1,719 | 1,258 | 1,651 |
After the UK's electric supply industry was privatised in 1990, the station was operated by PowerGen. [23] The station closed in 1992 and has since been completely demolished. [11] [23]
In 2006 LaFarge began construction of a plasterboard factory adjacent to the Ferrybridge C power station on the site of the former Ferrybridge B station to use the Calcium Sulphate (Gypsum) produced by FGD. [24]
The power station was originally built for and operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board.
Work began on Ferrybridge C in 1961. [25] The architects were the Building Design Partnership. [26] There were two chimneys and the eight cooling towers were arranged in a lozenge pattern on side of the building. On 1 November 1965, three of the cooling towers collapsed due to vibrations from Kármán turbulence in 85 mph (137 km/h) winds. Although the structures had been built to withstand higher wind speeds, the design only considered average wind speeds over one minute and neglected shorter gusts. Furthermore, the grouped shape of the cooling towers meant that westerly winds were funnelled into the towers themselves, creating a vortex. The remaining five were severely damaged. The destroyed towers were rebuilt to a higher specification and the five surviving towers were strengthened to tolerate adverse weather conditions. [11] [27] [28]
Commission of Ferrybridge C began in 1966: one unit was brought on line, feeding electricity into the National Grid, on 27 February 1966. [29] [30] Units 2, 3 and 4 were all commissioned by the end of 1967. [25] Following the cooling tower accident, it was planned that the station would not be opened for some time after the scheduled date. However it was possible to connect one of the remaining towers to the now complete Unit 1. The reconstruction of the destroyed towers began in April 1966 [29] and had been completed by 1968. [31]
Ferrybridge C Power Station had four 500 MW generating sets [11] known as units 1–4. There were four boilers rated at 435 kg/s, steam conditions were 158.58 bar at 566/566 °C reheat. [32] In addition to the main generating sets the plant originally had four gas turbines with a combined capacity of 68 MW. Two were retired in the late 1990s reducing capacity to 34 MW. [33] These units are used to start the plant in the absence of an external power supply.
The generating capacity, electricity output and thermal efficiency were as shown in the table. [22]
Year | Net capability, MW | Electricity supplied, GWh | Load as per cent of capability, % | Thermal efficiency, % |
---|---|---|---|---|
1966/7 | 357 | 201 | 27.0 | 28.07 |
1971/2 | 2000 | 7,340 | 44.0 | 33.94 |
1978/9 | 1932 | 11,721 | 69.3 | 34.85 |
1981/2 | 1932 | 10,229 | 60.4 | 36.51 |
Coal supply was by rail transport (initially 4m. tons a year in 1,000-ton Merry-go-round trains at the rate of 17 a day) [34] and road transport and barge (initially 1m. tons [34] on the Aire and Calder Navigation). [11] Barge transport ended in the late 1990s. [35] Rail transport comprised a branch off the adjacent Swinton and Milford Junction line. Facilities include a west-facing junction on the Swinton line, two coal discharge lines (No. 1 track and No. 2 track), gross- and tare-weight weighbridges, a hopper house, together with an oil siding. [36] [37] The automatic unloading equipment for the coal trains was built by Rhymney Engineering, a Powell Duffryn company. It used ultrasonic detection, capable of dealing with up to 99 wagons in a train (though initially trains had 35 hopper wagons), to control the door-opening gear to empty 5 wagons at a time into the bunkers. [38]
The plant's two chimneys were 198 m (650 ft) high. The eight cooling towers were built to a height of 115 m (377 ft), [35] none of which remain at the site after the final demolition of the cooling towers on 17 March 2022. [8]
Ownership passed to Powergen (1989) after the privatisation of the Central Electricity Generating Board. In 1998, during the 1990s "dash for gas", Powergen closed Unit 4. [39] In 1999 the power station, along with Fiddlers Ferry in Cheshire, was sold to Edison Mission Energy. Both stations were then sold on to AEP Energy Services Ltd (American Electric Power) in 2001, before both were sold again to SSE plc in July 2004 for £136 million. [11]
In 2005, SSE took the decision to fit Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) to the plant, installing equipment to scrub half of Ferrybridge's output; the decision was required to partially meet the specifications of the Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD). [40] In 2008 the boilers were fitted with Boosted Over Fire Air in order to reduce the NOx emissions. [41] [ unreliable source? ] In 2009 FGD was commissioned on Units 3 and 4. [42] [43] The installation of FGD allowed SSE to sign a five-year agreement with UK Coal for 3.5 million tonnes of higher-sulphur coal. [44]
In December 2013, SSE announced that Ferrybridge would opt out from (not comply with) the EU Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU); this would require the plant to close by the end of 2023, or on completing 17,500 hours of operation after 1 January 2016. [45] [46] The units without FGD (1 and 2) were closed on 28 March 2014, having completed the 20,000 operating hours permitted under the LCPD. [42] [47]
On 31 July 2014 a serious fire broke out in Ferrybridge Unit C. The fire was understood to have started in the fourth generating unit, with the no.3 unit also affected. Neither unit was operational at the time of the fire, due to maintenance. [48] At its height some 75 firefighters tackled 100 ft (30m) high flames, after the blaze broke out at about 14:00 BST. [49] A plant used to remove sulphur dioxide from gases produced from the power station caught fire. The black smoke coming from the coal-fired power station affected nearby roads, including the M62, with drivers and householders advised to keep windows shut. No injuries were recorded as the site was quiet due to the summer shutdown. The fire resulted in a partial collapse of the structure. [49]
As the fire was in the absorber tower, it destroyed Unit 4's FGD capability. Unit 3, which had received minor damage, returned to service on 29 October 2014. Unit 4 resumed service on 15 December 2014, although without its FGD it could only run by burning very low sulphur coal and in tandem with Unit 3. The very low sulphur coal ran out in March 2015 and therefore Unit 4 was shut, leaving only Unit 3 in operation for the final year of generation.[ citation needed ]
After the fire, only Unit 3 remained in full operation causing energy output to decrease and leading to a rise in the cost of running it. In May 2015 SSE confirmed that the plant would close in early 2016, after estimating that it would lose £100 million over the next five years. [50] [51] Electricity generation ceased around midday on 23 March 2016, with SSE stating that the official closure date would be 31 March. [52]
Cooling Tower six stood 114 metres (374 ft) high and was the first to be demolished, using explosives on 28 July 2019. [53] [54] [55] A further four cooling towers were demolished on 13 October 2019, leaving three standing. [6]
The main boiler house, bunker bay and two 198-metre (650 ft) high chimney stacks were demolished on 22 August 2021. [7] All were demolished at the same time because when a controlled demolition takes place there has to be an exclusion zone for safety. There is a housing development near the power station and during the COVID-19 restrictions, Keltbray and SSE were not allowed to evacuate the houses while social distancing guidelines required households to be 2 metres (6ft) apart. Once the restrictions were lifted they were able to carry out the demolition, and chose to demolish the three structures at the same time so that only one evacuation was necessary.[ citation needed ]
The final three cooling towers, at first intended to be kept for a future gas-fired power station, were demolished on 17 March 2022 [8] and the site was offered for sale. [56] The power station demolition was completed in October 2022. [56] [ failed verification ]
In 2018, SSE had plans to redevelop the site for a gas-fired power station, to be named Ferrybridge D, [57] and build a 9km gas pipeline to connect it to the gas transmission system. [58] Parts of 'C' station – including three of the original cooling towers, the electricity switch house and the substation – were going to be retained for its use.[ citation needed ] The plans were not taken forward, and in April 2020 the application to reserve capacity on the gas transmission network was cancelled. [59]
In October 2011, SSE was granted Section 36 planning permission to construct a 68 MW waste-to-energy plant at its Ferrybridge site. [60] The 68 MW plant was designed to burn mixed fuel including biomass, general waste and waste wood. The plant became operational during 2015. [61] [2]
In late 2013 consultations began for a second multifuel plant "Ferrybridge Multifuel 2" (FM2). The plant was initially specified to be similar in scale to the first plant, and to have a capacity of up to 90 MW. [62] [63] It occupied part of the course at Ferrybridge Golf Club, and in 2013 SSE undertook to provide a replacement nine-hole course and clubhouse nearby. [64] Construction of MF2 began in 2016, was completed late 2019, and it was commissioned in December of that year. [3] A rail unloading terminal was built between the two plants to allow both to be rail served.[ citation needed ]
Both plants were built by Multifuel Energy Limited, a 50:50 joint venture between SSE and Wheelabrator, a division of American company Waste Management. [65] As of 2015 [update] , generated power was purchased by SSE. [66] SSE sold its share of the joint venture to First Sentier Investors in January 2021, as part of a programme of disposal of non-core assets. [67] A 150 MW / 300 MWh (2-hour) battery started construction in 2023, scheduled for 2024. [68] [69]
On 30 November 2011, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, officially opened a carbon capture pilot plant at Ferrybridge Power Station. The carbon capture plant was constructed in partnership with Doosan Power Systems, Vattenfall and the Technology Strategy Board. [70] [71] The plant had a capacity of 100 tonnes of CO2 per day, equivalent to 0.005 GW of power. [72] The capture method used amine chemistry [73] [74] (see Amine gas treating). The CO2 was not stored, because the pilot plant was designed only to test the carbon capture element of the carbon capture and storage process. At the time of construction it was the largest carbon capture plant in the UK. [75]
Drax power station is a large biomass power station in Drax, North Yorkshire, England. It has a 2.6 GW capacity for biomass and had a 1.29 GW capacity for coal that was retired in 2021. Its name comes from the nearby village of Drax. It is situated on the River Ouse between Selby and Goole. Its generating capacity of 3,906 megawatts (MW), which includes the shut down coal units, is the highest of any power station in the United Kingdom, providing about 6% of the United Kingdom's electricity supply.
Fiddler's Ferry power station is a decommissioned coal fired power station in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England. Opened in 1971, the station had a generating capacity of 1,989 megawatts and took water from the River Mersey. After privatisation in 1990, the station was operated by various companies, and from 2004 to 2022 by SSE Thermal. The power station closed on 31 March 2020. The site was acquired by Peel NRE in July 2022.
The Ironbridge power stations refers to two power stations that occupied a site on the banks of the River Severn at Buildwas in Shropshire, England. The Ironbridge B Power Station was operated by E.ON UK but the site is now owned by Haworth Group. The station stands near the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site. Originally powered by coal, they were converted to use 100% biomass fuel. Ironbridge B Power Station stopped generating electricity on 20 November 2015, with the decommissioning process continuing into 2017. The main phase of the 27-month demolition process began at 11:00 GMT on 6 December 2019, commencing with the four cooling towers.
Rye House Power Station is a 715 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station located near Rye House railway station in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.
Aberthaw Power Station refers to two decommissioned coal-fired and co-fired biomass power stations on the coast of South Wales, near Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. They were located at Limpert Bay, near the villages of Gileston and West Aberthaw. The most recent power station on the site, Aberthaw B Power Station, co-fired biomass and as of 2008 had a generating capacity of 1,560 megawatts (MW). The power station closed on 31 March 2020.
Drakelow Power Station refers to a series of three now decommissioned and demolished coal-fired power stations located 2.4 mi (3.9 km) south of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire in the West Midlands of England, on the River Trent. However, the station was actually located in the county of Derbyshire, in the East Midlands. The power station was a distinguishable landmark of Burton, which is most famous for its breweries.
Eggborough power station was a coal-fired power station in North Yorkshire, England, which was capable of co-firing biomass. It was situated on the River Aire, between the towns of Knottingley and Snaith, deriving its name from the nearby village of Eggborough. The station had a generating capacity of 1,960 megawatts, enough electricity to power 2 million homes, equivalent to the area of Leeds and Sheffield.
The Littlebrook Power Station were a series of four oil and coal-fired power stations situated on the south bank of the River Thames, next to the Queen Elizabeth 2 Bridge and the Dartford Tunnel in Dartford, Kent. The final power station, Littlebrook D, ceased operating in March 2015, and has now been demolished.
West Ham Power Station was a coal-fired power station on Bow Creek at Canning Town, in east London. It was often referred to informally as Canning Town Power Station.
Keadby Power Stations are a pair of natural gas-fired power stations near Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire, built on the site of an older coal power station. The site lies near the B1392 and the River Trent, and the Scunthorpe-Grimsby railway. Also nearby is the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, which is part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation. The current stations are operated by SSE Thermal.
Little Barford Power Station is a combined cycle gas turbine power station in the village of Little Barford in Bedfordshire, England. It lies just south of the A428 St Neots bypass and east of the Wyboston Leisure Park. The River Great Ouse runs alongside. It was formerly the site of two coal-fired power stations, now demolished. The station is operated by RWE.
The Rugeley power stations were a series of two coal-fired power stations located on the River Trent at Rugeley in Staffordshire. The first power station on the site, Rugeley A power station was opened in 1961, but has since been closed and demolished. Rugeley B power station was commissioned in 1970, and closed on 8 June 2016. The cooling towers of which were demolished on 6 June 2021. It had an output of 1,000 megawatts (MW) and had a 400 kilovolt (kV) connection to the national grid. The B station provided enough electricity to power roughly half a million homes.
The Tilbury power stations were two thermal power stations on the north bank of the River Thames at Tilbury in Essex. The 360 MW dual coal- and oil-fired Tilbury A Power Station operated from 1956 until 1981 when it was mothballed, prior to demolition in 1999. The 1,428 MW Tilbury B Power Station operated between 1968 and 2013 and was fueled by coal, as well as co-firing with oil and, from 2011, biomass. Tilbury B was demolished in 2016–19. Since 2013 three other power stations have been proposed or constructed in Tilbury.
The Uskmouth power stations refers to a series of two coal-fired power stations at the mouth of the River Usk in the south-east of Newport, Wales.
Blackburn Meadows power station is a biomass power station situated at Blackburn Meadows on the River Don, between Sheffield and Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. Operated by E.ON UK, it was opened in 2014 and has an operating capacity of 30 megawatts.
Ince Power Station refers to two demolished power stations near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, North West England.
Hams Hall Power Station refers to a series of three, now demolished coal-fired power stations, situated in Warwickshire in the West Midlands of England, 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Birmingham city centre.
Watford Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated in Watford's Riverside area. The station was built by the Watford Corporation Electricity Department starting with the installation of cables in 1899 with completion around 1900, near the banks of the River Colne. A gas turbine power station was commissioned in 1980.
Megawatt Valley is a term applied to a geographic location which houses a large number of electricity generating stations. Historically in the United Kingdom this applied to the coal-fired power stations of the lower Trent Valley. In the mid-1980s, the valley's 13 facilities generated up to a quarter of the power demand for England and Wales. A shift to gas-fired power stations saw many of the Megawatt Valley facilities close down. The term was then associated with an area of Yorkshire centred on the River Aire that was home to Ferrybridge C, Eggborough and Drax power stations. Of these facilities only Drax remains in operation. In the United States the term has been applied to an area of West Virginia, home to five power stations.
The Thornhill power station generated and supplied electricity to the town of Dewsbury and the wider regional area from 1902 to 1982, and again from 1998. The first generating station on the site was owned and operated by the Yorkshire Electric Power Company. Following nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry in 1948 Thornhill power station was operated by a succession of state owned bodies. The power station was redeveloped with new plant in 1915, 1925, 1932–37 and 1950–54. The coal-fired steam station was decommissioned in 1982, and was subsequently demolished. A gas turbine power station on the site was commissioned in 1998.
Ferrybridge C power station details [..] The boilers were equipped with boosted-over-fire-air technology in 2008 to reduce NOx emissions
The removal, in January and February 2009, of the restrictions on running hours at Fiddler's Ferry and Ferrybridge power stations which applied during 2008, following the installation of flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) equipment [...] Investment in 2009/10 [..] During that time, SSE [..] completed the installation of flue gas desulphurisation equipment at Fiddler's Ferry and Ferrybridge power stations
Unit One (490 MW) and Unit Two (490 MW) at Ferrybridge power station were opted out of the Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD), and turned off once they used up their allowed 20,000 operating hours at the end of March 2014.