Immingham Power Station

Immingham Power Station

Immingham power station
Viewed from the south in April 2006
Location of Immingham Power Station in Lincolnshire
Country England
Location Lincolnshire, East Midlands
Coordinates 53°38′18″N 0°14′00″W / 53.63833°N 0.23328°WCoordinates: 53°38′18″N 0°14′00″W / 53.63833°N 0.23328°W
Operator(s) Conoco Phillips Power Operations
(2004-present)
Thermal power station
Primary fuel Natural gas
Power generation
Units operational 2004
Nameplate capacity 730 MW
Website
www.vpi-i.com
grid reference TA169172

Immingham Combined Heat and Power Plant (also known as Conoco Phillips Power Station) is a combined heat and power, gas-fired power plant north of the town of Immingham in North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated near the south bank of the Humber, from which it takes its name.

Its original generating capacity of 730 megawatts was expanded to 1,240 MW in 2009 making it one of Europe's largest CHP plant. The station was operated by energy company ConocoPhillips from opening in 2004, until its sale to Vitol in 2013.

History

Plans for the power station began in 1998, when ways to provide power for both refineries were investigated. Due to the low price of electricity when the designs for the station began in 2004, the plant would have not been economically viable unless tax-incentives were given by the UK government. These were in the form of exemption from the Climate Change Levy and greater offsets against tax for the plant's depreciation.

It was opened on 1 November 2004 by Margaret Beckett, and was built for ConocoPhillips.[1] It transferred ownership to Phillips 66 in May 2012 following ConocoPhillips divesting of its downstream business. The Power Station was put up for sale in June 2012 by Phillips 66.

The £350m plant is sited near the Humber Refinery. It is a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, providing electricity and heat for the refinery's processes. Excess steam goes to the neighbouring Lindsey Oil Refinery and excess electricity goes to the National Grid. It was designed by Foster Wheeler Energy and built by Kier. The power station trades as Immingham CHP LLP.

In October 2006, ConocoPhillips approved a £210 million extension of the plant to produce 1,180 MW. The new Phase II plant is expected to be opened in the summer of 2009, producing an extra 450 MW. It will consist of one 285 MWe gas turbine, one HRSG and a 200 MWe steam turbine.[2]

ICHP Immingham was sold on 23 July 2013 to Vitol.[3]

Specification

It is a CCGT type power station using natural gas. Two 260 MW General Electric Frame 9 (9001FA) gas turbines generate electricity with the exhaust gas from each heating a Nooter Eriksen[4] heat recovery steam generator. The steam from each these HRSGs transfers to a steam turbine. The two 115 MWe steam turbines are built by Franco Tosi Meccanica. There are also two auxiliary boilers. Each boiler can provide 50% of the steam needs at 50 bars (5,000 kPa) for each refinery. It normally exports around a minimum of 150 MW to the National Grid, but this can be increased depending on the needs of the Grid and the two refineries. The plant is about 70% thermally efficient. The refinery operations need around 25 MW of electricity. Each steam turbine uses a maximum of 300 tonnes of steam per hour. Around 190 tonnes per hour of steam goes to the Humber Refinery, and around 160 tonnes per hour goes to the Lindsey Refinery.

References

  1. ↑ "Inaugurating Immingham: Europe's biggest CHP". www.modernpowersystems.com. 10 November 2004.
  2. ↑ 10-20-2006 ConocoPhillips to Expand Europe’s Largest Combined Heat and Power Station
  3. ↑ "Vitol completes acquisition of ICHP". Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  4. ↑ Nooter/Eriksen

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Immingham Power Station.