Connah's Quay Power Station
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Connah's Quay Power Station is a 1420MW gas-fired power station to the west of Connah's Quay in Flintshire in north Wales. It is next to the A548, being tightly situated between the road and the south bank of the River Dee.
[edit] History
It is built on the site of a former coal-fired power station, which was demolished in the early 1990s. It is E.ON UK's largest CCGT power station. Construction began in July 1993, with it opening in March 1996 (then in Clwyd) at a cost of £580m. In June 1998, the visitor centre opened. Originally it was owned by Powergen, who became E.ON UK in 2004. The station was built by GEC Alsthom and Henry Boot Construction, with design by Atlantic Projects. It was officially opened by Margaret Beckett on July 4 1997.
It is not to be confused with the Deeside Power Station, which is a similar CCGT power station with two chimneys one mile to the east on the north bank of the River Dee. The two plants are separated by the visually stunning Flintshire Bridge, with many electricity pylons running alongside.
In 1999, Henry Boot sued Alstom for breach of contract.
[edit] Specification
It is a CCGT type power station that runs on natural gas. It is made up of four 330MW modules - hence the four chimneys. Each module has a General Electric Frame 9FA gas turbine, a Stein Industrie heat recovery steam generator and a steam turbine; in a single-shaft layout. The gas comes from an eighteen mile pipeline from the Point of Ayr refinery, where gas comes from BHP Billiton's (originally owned by Denver-based Hamilton Oil) Celtic gas fields (Hamilton and Hamilton North) in Liverpool Bay via the Douglas Complex. The station opened soon after the gas from the field was first produced. The station employs around 70 people.
