Rye House power station
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| Rye House power station | |
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  Rye House power station shown within Hertfordshire |
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| Operator: | ScottishPower |
| Fuel: | Gas 715MW |
Rye House Power Station is a 715MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station close to Rye House railway station.
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[edit] History
The station, near Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, about eighteen miles north of London, was built in the early 1990s and fully commissioned in November 1993 and officially opened in April 1994. Output from the station is enough to meet the daily power needs of nearly a million people - almost the population of Hertfordshire.
It was built on the site of an earlier coal-fired station built in 1953 to a design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
Rye House operates as part of ScottishPower's UK Generation, playing a valuable role in the electricity markets in England and Wales. It was acquired by ScottishPower from Powergen in January 2001 for £217m.
[edit] Specification
CCGT stations use a gas turbine along with a steam turbine connected to a heat recovery steam generator to provide the most efficient form of thermal electricity generation. Rye House has three single-shaft Siemens V94.2 gas turbines (generating 150MW each) rotating at 3000rpm and three Babcock Energy steam generators (receiving exhaust gas at 540C) connected to one 250MW steam turbine. The plant was built by Siemens. The gas turbines have a terminal voltage of 11kV and the steam turbine 15.75kV, connecting to the National Grid at 400kV. It has the largest air-cooled condenser in Europe. The chimneys are 58m high. It employs thirty seven people.
