| Tilbury power station | |
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Tilbury B Power Station Viewed from the west in May 2008 |
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| Country | England |
| Location | Tilbury |
| Coordinates | |
| Status | Operating |
| Commission date | A station: 1956 B station: 1967 |
| Decommission date | A station: 1981 |
| Owner(s) | Central Electricity Generating Board (1956-1990) National Power (1990-2000) Innogy (2000-2002) npower (2002-present) |
| Power station information | |
| Primary fuel | Coal |
| Secondary fuel | Oil |
| Tertiary fuel | Biomass |
| Power generation information | |
| Installed capacity | A station: 360 MW B station: 1,428 MW |
| Website http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/en/97606/rwe-npower/about-us/our-businesses/power-generation/tilbury/ |
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| grid reference TQ661756 | |
The Tilbury power stations refer to a series of two power stations on the north bank of the River Thames at Tilbury, in Essex, England. The 1,428 MW Tilbury B Power Station has operated since 1967 and fires coal, as well as co-firing oil and biomass. The former oil-fired 360 megawatts (MW) Tilbury A Power Station operated between 1956 and 1981 when it was mothballed. The current system generates enough electricity to meet the electrical requirements of 1.4 million people, equivalent to 80% of the population of Essex.[1] RWE is currently testing and recommissioning the station following conversion to burn biomass only; this includes converting the black-start open cycle gas turbines to run biofuel in addition to the power station proper.
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Following construction which began in 1951, Tilbury 'A' station was commissioned in 1956 by the CEGB. It was mothballed in 1981 and eventually demolished in 1999.[2]
The CEGB began construction of a much larger new station, Tilbury 'B', in 1961. This was opened in 1968. On privatisation in 1990 it was assigned to National Power, but is now operated by RWE npower. The jetty was enlarged in 2004 to accommodate ships carrying up to 65,000 tons of coal. [2]
In May 2011, RWE began converting the B station to burn biomass only. They hoped for the conversion to allow 750 MW of electricity to be generated from burning wood pellets imported from a pelleting plant in Georgia, USA, by the winter of 2011. This conversion will make the station the biggest biomass generating site in the world.[3]
In early 2007, npower announced plans to replace the B station with a 1,600 MW 'cleaner' coal-fired power station. The station would have cost £1 billion to build and was hoped to be operational by 2014. The plans were supported by the Port of London Authority.[4] RWE had also planned to build a clean coal power station at Blyth but they have since postponed both schemes.
The B station contains four generating units, one of which has been decommissioned since the stations opening and is now redundant, only being used as spare parts for maintenance of the remaining 3 generating units, all 4 units were available before this with a combined capacity of 1428 MW, enough power for 1.4 million people, approximately 80% of the population of Essex.[5] Cooling water is drawn from the Thames. Fuel is delivered by ship to dedicated unloading jetties. The station connects to the National Grid at the nearby 275 kV substation.
On 1 July 2008, a man servicing an offline boiler at the station fell 20 ft (6.1 m) from scaffolding into the boiler. Crews used an internal staircase in the boiler to rescue the man, and he was taken to safety by 11am.[6]
A fire broke out at the power station on 29 July 2009. The fire broke out shortly after 3:00pm, with the failure of one of the station's high pressure turbine units. Workers were evacuated immediately, and the fire was reported to be under control by 5:30pm. There were no casualties.[7]
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