Didcot power stations

Didcot Power Station
Didcot Power Station Viewed from the south in September 2006
Location of Didcot Power Station
Country	England
Location	Oxfordshire, South East England
Coordinates	51°37′25″N 1°16′03″W / 51.62363°N 1.26757°W / 51.62363; -1.26757Coordinates: 51°37′25″N 1°16′03″W / 51.62363°N 1.26757°W / 51.62363; -1.26757
Commission date	1968
Operator(s)	Central Electricity Generating Board (1968-1990) National Power (1990-2000) Innogy (2000-2002) RWE npower (2002-present)
Power station
Primary fuel	Coal-fired
Secondary fuel	Natural gas-fired
Tertiary fuel	Biofuel
grid reference SU508919

Didcot Power Station refers to a combined coal and oil power plant (Didcot A Power Station) and a natural-gas power plant (Didcot B Power Station) that supply the National Grid. They are situated immediately adjoining one another in the civil parish of Sutton Courtenay, next to the town of Didcot in Oxfordshire (formerly in Berkshire), in the UK. The combined power stations feature a chimney which is one of the taller structures in the UK, and six hyperbolic cooling towers, which can be seen from much of the surrounding landscape.

Didcot A

Didcot A Power Station was a coal and gas-fired power station, which ceased operation on 22 March 2013. Designed by architect Frederick Gibberd, a vote was held in Didcot and surrounding villages on whether the power station should be built. There was strong opposition from Sutton Courtenay but the yes vote was carried, due to the number of jobs that would be created in the area. Building was started on the 2,000 MWe power station for the Central Electricity Generating Board CEGB during 1964, and was completed in 1968 at a cost of £104m, with up to 2400 workers being employed at peak times. It is located on a 300 acres (1.2 km²) site formerly part of the Ministry of Defence Central Ordnance Depot. The main chimney is 650 ft (200 m) tall with the six cooling towers 325 ft (99 m) each. The station used four 500 MWe generating units. In 2003 Didcot A burnt 3.7Mt of coal.

The station burned mostly pulverised coal, but also co-fired with natural gas. Didcot was the first large power station to be converted to have this function. In addition, a small amount of biomass, such as sawdust, was burnt at the plant. This was introduced to try to depend more on renewable sources following the introduction of the Kyoto Protocol and, in April 2002, the Renewables Obligation. It was hoped that biomass could replace 2% of coal burnt. In 1996 and 1997, Thales UK was awarded contracts by Innogy (now npower) to implement the APMS supervisory and control system on all of the four units, then allowing to have optimised emissions monitoring and reporting.^[1] Between 2005 and 2007 Didcot installed overfire air systems on the four boilers to reduce emissions of Nitrous Oxide.This ensured compliance with the Large Combustion Plant Directive.

Some ash from Didcot A is used to manufacture building blocks at a factory on the adjacent Milton Park and transported to Thatcham (near Newbury, Berkshire) for the manufacture of Thermalite aerated breeze blocks using both decarbonized fly and raw ash, but most is mixed with water and pumped via a pipeline to former quarries in Radley.

Environmental protests

2006 Greenpeace Protest

On the morning of Thursday 2 November 2006, 30 Greenpeace volunteers invaded the power station. One group chained themselves to a broken coal-carrying conveyor belt. A second group scaled the 200 metre high chimney, and set up a 'climate camp'. They proceeded to paint "Blair's Legacy" on the side of the chimney overlooking the town. Greenpeace claim Didcot Power Station is the second most polluting in Britain after Drax in Yorkshire,^[2] whilst Friends of the Earth describe it as the ninth worst in the UK.^[3]

A similar protest occurred early on 26 October 2009, when nine climate change protesters climbed the chimney, and eleven chained themselves to the coal delivery conveyors; the latter group were cut free by police after five hours, but the former waited until 28 October before coming down again — all twenty were arrested, and power supplies continued uninterrupted. The power station was installing improved security fencing at the time.^[4]

2013 closure

Didcot A opted out of the Large Combustion Plant Directive which meant it was only be allowed to run for up to 20,000 hours after 1 January 2008 and must close by 31 December 2015 at the latest. The decision was made not to install Flue Gas Desulphurisation equipment which would have allowed continued generation.

Studies did continue into whether there was a possibility that Didcot A might be modernised with new super-clean coal burning capabilities; with RWE partly involved in the study,^[5] however in September 2012 RWE Npower announced that Didcot A using its current coal burning capabilities would close at the end of March 2013.^[6] On 22 March 2013, Didcot A closed and the de-commissioning process began.

Didcot B

History

Didcot B is the newer sibling initially owned by National Power, constructed from 1994-7 by Siemens and Atlantic Projects, and uses a (CCGT) type power plant to generate up to 1,360 MWe of electricity.^[7] It opened in July 1997. There has been some controversy locally that the access for the site was originally agreed to be via the site entrance for Didcot A on Basil Hill Road', however the 'temporary' access using the former National Grid stores access road is still in use.

Specification

It consists of two 680 MWe modules, each with two 230 MW SGT5-4000F (former V94.3A) Siemens gas turbines and two heat recovery steam generators, built by International Combustion (since 1997 known as ABB Combustion Services Ltd), and a steam turbine.

Closure

Owners RWE announced on 9th January 2014 that modules 5 and 6 of Didcot B will cease generation by 31st December 2023 at the latest, to comply with the European Industrial Emissions Directive which takes effect as of January 2016. It is however possible that the life of these modules will be extended if RWE decide to install equipment to further reduce emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. ^[8]

Ownership

Following privatisation of the CEGB in the early 1990s, Didcot A passed into the control of what became National Power, who also started construction of Didcot B. Following demerger the plant passed to Innogy (in 2000) and following the takover of Innogy by RWE in 2002 ownership passed to Npower (UK).^[9]

Architectural reception

Didcot Power Station viewed from Wittenham Clumps

• It was voted Britain's third worst eyesore in 2003 by Country Life readers,^[10] although Didcot A won architectural awards^{[citation needed]} for how well it blended into the landscape, following its construction. Radio Oxford received votes for the station when they conducted a survey of the worst building in Oxfordshire, with some listeners referring to it as looking like somewhere up north.
• British poet Kit Wright has written an "Ode to Didcot Power Station" using a parodic style akin to that of the early romantic poets.

See also

• List of tallest buildings and structures in Great Britain
• Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
• Energy policy of the United Kingdom

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Didcot Power Station.

• Map sources for Didcot power stations
• Power Stations Visits — Didcot A
• Power Stations Visits — Didcot A for students
• APMS: Advanced Plant Management System
• Architectural views
• Other CCGTs in southern England

v t e Electricity generation in South East England Power stations Biomass Active Slough Closed Didcot A (co-fired) Kingsnorth (co-fired) Coal Closed Brighton A + B Cowes Didcot A (co-fired) Earley Eastbourne Hastings Kingsnorth (co-fired) Littlebrook A, B + C Northfleet Osney Richborough Slough Gas Active Cowes Damhead Creek Didcot B Grain Humbly Grove Hythe Marchwood Medway Sevington Shoreham Storrington Closed Hastings Slough Incinerators/Waste Active Allington Quarry Basingstoke Isle of Wight Marchwood Portsmouth Slough Proposed/Future Newhaven Nuclear Active Dungeness B Closed Dungeness A Refused/Cancelled Dungeness C Oil Active Littlebrook D Closed Kingsnorth (co-fired) Fawley Grain Littlebrook A, B + C Northfleet Richborough Wind Active Green Park Kentish Flats Romney Marsh Thanet London Array Proposed/Future Southern Array (Hastings) Organisations Brighton Electric Light Company Centrica Expro International Group Hammond Electric Light Company Pre-nationalisation electric power companies SEEBOARD Southern Electric Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative

v t e RWE Divisions and subsidiaries Current Amprion Elektriciteits Produktiemaatschappij Zuid-Nederland Essent RWE Dea RWE npower RWE Power AG RWE Supply & Trading CZ Former American Water1 Thames Water1 Joint ventures and shareholdings Current Deutsche Gesellschaft zum Bau und Betrieb von Endlagern für Abfallstoffe Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service (28%) Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant (75%) Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH (16.67%) Rostock Power Station (24.6%) Urenco Group Former Horizon Nuclear Power1 Places and facilities Germany Biblis Nuclear Power Plant Innogy Nordsee 1 Garzweiler surface mine Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant Hambach surface mine Lingen Nuclear Power Plant Mittelplate Mülheim-Kärlich Nuclear Power Plant Neurath Power Station Niederaussem Power Station Nordsee-Ost offshore wind farm Rostock Power Station RWE Tower United Kingdom Aberthaw power stations Atlantic Array Didcot power stations Great Yarmouth Power Station Greater Gabbard wind farm Gwynt y Môr Little Barford Power Station Littlebrook Power Station North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm Pembroke Power Station Rhyl Flats Staythorpe Power Station Tilbury power stations Other Amercentrale Gazela Pipeline Gjøa oilfield Nabucco pipeline Nakhichevan field People Fritz Vahrenholt Other Advanced Plant Management System 1Sold 2Decommissioned Category  Commons