Marchwood Power Station

Marchwood Power Station

Marchwood Power Station seen across the River Test
Location of Marchwood Power Station
Country England
Location Hampshire, South East England
Coordinates 50°53′51″N 1°26′20″W / 50.897581°N 1.438988°W / 50.897581; -1.438988Coordinates: 50°53′51″N 1°26′20″W / 50.897581°N 1.438988°W / 50.897581; -1.438988
Commission date 2010
Operator(s) Marchwood Power (SSE)
Thermal power station
Primary fuel Gas-fired
Power generation
Nameplate capacity 840MW
grid reference SU395110

Marchwood Power Station is a 840 MW gas-fired power station in Marchwood, near Southampton, England. It is situated beside estuary of the River Test where it meets Southampton Water, opposite the Port of Southampton. It is built on the site of an oil-fired power station, demolished in the 1990s.

Overview

Marchwood Power Station is next to Southampton Water on Marchwood Industrial Estate.[1] It is a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station.[1] The plant uses compressed air and gas to power one turbine and then uses exhaust gases from that process to boil water and power a steam turbine.[2] The power station generates 840MW of electricity.[2] Water from the River Test is used as part of the cooling process.[2] Around 45 people work at the power plant.[2]

History

Oil-fired plant

The first power plant at Marchwood was built in the 1950s. It was originally designed to be a coal-fired plant.[3] Plans were soon changed and it was equipped for burning fuel-oil, brought to the station by tankers from Fawley Refinery seven miles lower down Southampton Water.[3] Construction began in 1952 and the first foundation stone was laid in September 1954.[4] It started producing electricity towards the end of 1955.[4] The power station eventually comprised eight 60MW units with a combined power of 480MW.[5] The first four units were fully commissioned in 1957,[6] with the remaining four units on stream by 1959.[3] Marchwood power station was closed in 1983.[7]

Marchwood Engineering Laboratories

Beginning in the early 1960s, a site next to the power station was the home of Marchwood Engineering Laboratories operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board.[8] It was one of their three national research laboratories. The centre developed a broad-based research programme concentrating on structural, combustion and mechanical engineering, and included techniques, design codes, instrumentation and machines for welding, nuclear reactor inspection, turbines and other plant.[8] A low-speed wind tunnel, built to study power station emissions, was also built there.[8] Following privatisation of the electricity industry, Marchwood Engineering Laboratories were allocated to PowerGen, but that company was engaged in comparatively little research, and the rundown and closure of the site were announced in 1989.[9]

Alternative energy projects

In 1979 a geothermal test well was sunk at Marchwood Power Station in the UK's first project to tap geothermal heat.[10] Drilling was completed to a depth of 2600 metres in early 1981.[11] This revealed an aquifer at a temperature of 73 Celsius at a depth of 1660 metres.[11] Although the Department of Energy considered the resource to be uneconomic, a similar borehole sunk nearby in Southampton was later utilised to provide local heating in the city.[12]

In 1983 Marchwood Power Station was the site of the UK's first commercial solar-powered electricity generator, when a 30 kW system was built by BP Solar in the defunct coalyard of the power station.[13] It was decommissioned a few years later.[13]

Gas-fired plant

The gas-fired plant was built by Marchwood Power Ltd, a joint venture between SSE and ESB International.[1] The power station cost £380 million and was officially opened on 28 January 2010.[14] In 2013 ESB sold off its 50pc stake in Marchwood for €180 million to a unit of the reinsurance company Munich Re.[15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "New power station ready to work". BBC. 12 December 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Marchwood is back on the grid with a new super power plant". Southern Daily Echo. 29 January 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Civil Engineering, (1957), Volume 52, page 1266
  4. 1 2 The Engineer, (1956), Volume 201, page 494
  5. ↑ Central Electricity Generating Board, (1986), Advances in Power Station Construction, page 4.
  6. ↑ Howard E. Bracey, (1963), Industry and the Countryside: The Impact of Industry on Amenities in the Countryside. The Report of a Preliminary Inquiry for the Royal Society of Arts, page 32. Acton Society Trust
  7. ↑ T. Langford, (1990), Ecological Effects of Thermal Discharges, page 270. Springer. ISBN 1851664513
  8. 1 2 3 "Obituaries: Harold Johnson". The Guardian. 21 June 2000.
  9. ↑ "Electricity Bill". Hansard. 25 April 1989.
  10. ↑ New Scientist (1979), Vol. 84, No. 1175 page 28
  11. 1 2 Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, (1983), Volume 74, page 50
  12. ↑ Roger Greeno, Fred Hall, (2009), Building Services Handbook, page 592. Routledge. ISBN 1136442944
  13. 1 2 Philip Wolfe, (2013), Solar Photovoltaic projects in the mainstream power market, page 25. Routledge. ISBN 1136201653
  14. ↑ "New power station at Marchwood officially open". 28 January 2010.
  15. ↑ "ESB sells off its 50pc stake in Marchwood for €180m". 22 November 2013.
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