Coal-Fired Power Plants in East England &
the Midlands

Cliff Quay
Location: Suffolk
Operator: Central Electricity Generating Board
Configuration: 6 X 46 MW
Fuel: bituminous coal
Operation: 1949-1952 (ret 1985)
Boiler supplier: BPL
T/G supplier: MV
Quick facts: Cliff Quay was demolished in Nov 1994.

Photograph by Keith Evans (geograph)
Posted 22 Jun 2008

 

Cottam
Location: Nottinghamshire
Operator: EDF Energy
Configuration: 4 X 500 MW
Fuel: bituminous coal, biomass
Operation: 1969-1970
Boiler supplier: John Thompson
T/G supplier: EE
Quick facts: Cottam is on a 620ac site on the west bank of the River Trent, 8mi from the market town of Retford. At the end of Dec 2000, Powergen closed on the sale of Cottam to London Electricity for $593.5mn cash. In Dec 2002, RWE Industrie-Losungen GmbH from Duisburg, Germany, signed the first of two contracts for the installation of Thyssen wet limestone FGD systems at Cottam. Two of the four systems came online during 2005, the third in 2006, and the final unit in Oct 2007. The FGD project cost £108mn. 25ha of short rotation coppice (SRC) willow has been planted on Strawson’s Knightwood Trust Farms in fields directly adjacent to the power station. In three years time, the willow will be harvested into a carbon neutral wood chip and supplied as Koolfuel for co-firing with coal.

Photograph by Christopher Bell
Posted 12 Apr 2003

Drakelow-C
Location: Staffordshire
Operator: PowerGen plc
Configuration: 2 X 350 MW, 1 X 375 MW
Fuel: bituminous coal, natural gas
Operation: 1965-1967 (ret 2003)
Boiler supplier: John Thompson, ICL
T/G supplier: EE, AEI
Quick facts: Drakelow C12 was the only supercritical generating unit ever built in the UK.  At one time, the Drakelow A, B and C plants comprised the largest power station in Europe. Construction of a 1,220-MW CCGT block has been approved for the site.

Photograph by Christopher Bell
Posted 16 Apr 2003

 

High Marnham
Location: Nottinghamshire
Operator: PowerGen plc
Configuration: 5 X 200 MW
Fuel: bituminous coal
Operation: 1959-1962 (ret 2003)
Boiler supplier: ICL
T/G supplier: EE

Photograph by Christopher Bell
Posted 9 Feb 2003

 

Ironbridge
Location: Shropshire
Operator: E.ON UK plc
Configuration: 2 X 485 MW
Fuel: bituminous coal
Operation: 1970
Boiler supplier: Foser Wheeler, John Brown
T/G supplier: AEI
EPC: Rendel
Quick facts: This power station is in the Severn Gorge just upstream from Ironbridge Gorge, a World Heritage Site.

Photograph courtesy of E.ON UK
Posted 28 Dec 2006

 

Ratcliffe
Location: Nottinghamshire
Operator: E.ON UK plc
Configuration: 4 X 500 MW
Fuel: bituminous coal
Operation: 1968-1970
Boiler supplier: BPL
T/G supplier: Parsons
Quick facts: Ratcliffe has been retrofit with FGD and Boosted Over Fire Air (BOFA) systems. New HP turbines are being installed for each of the generation units. On 11 Feb 2006, Ratcliffe-1 became the first 500-MW set in the UK to pass 250,000 running hours and on the night of 15-16 Nov 2007, Ratcliffe became the first coal-fired power plant to exceed 1m running hours, the equivalent of 28yrs of continuous operation.

Photograph courtesy of E.ON UK
Re-posted 28 Dec 2006

Rugeley-B
Location: Staffordshire
Operator: International Power plc
Configuration: 2 X 500 MW
Fuel: bituminous coal
Operation: 1970
Boiler supplier: Foster Wheeler, John Brown
T/G supplier: Parsons
Quick facts: In Jun 2001, International Power bought Rugeley from TXU Europe for £200mn. The station was granted Section 36 consent to add FGD in early 2004 and the new Lurgi FGD systems went online in Jun 2009. The B station is directly connected to the UK 400kV grid. In Jun 20007, Mitsui & Co acquired a minority stake in Rugeley-B.

Photograph by marttih (panoramio)
Posted 23 May 2009

Staythorpe-A
Location: Nottinghamshire
Operator: National Power plc
Configuration: 6 X 60 MW
Fuel: bituminous coal
Operation: 1950-1953 (ret 1989)
Boiler supplier: Babcock Power
T/G supplier: BTH
EPC: Balfour Beatty
Quick facts: Development of the Staythorpe site started in 1946.

Photograph courtesy of Balfour Beatty
Posted 16 Dec  2006

 

Staythorpe-B
Location: Nottinghamshire
Operator: National Power plc
Configuration: 3 X 120 MW
Fuel: bituminous coal
Operation: 1960-1961 (ret 1996)
Boiler supplier: JBE
T/G supplier: MV
EPC: Balfour Beatty

Photograph courtesy of meke (flickr)
Posted 8 Dec 2010

 

 

Tilbury
Location: Essex
Operator: RWE npower
Configuration: 4 X 350 MW
Fuel: bituminous coal, biomass
Operation: 1968-1972
Boiler supplier: FW, JBE
T/G supplier: GEC
Quick facts: Originally an oil-fired station, the 50yr old plant now buns low-sulfur coal and small quantities of biomass.

Photograph by Peter Henderson and courtesy of PISCES Conservation Ltd
Posted 16 Jun 2004

 

 

West Burton
Location: Nottinghamshire
Operator: EDF Energy
Configuration: 4 X 500 MW
Fuel: bituminous coal
Operation: 1967-1968
Boiler supplier: ICL
T/G supplier: EE
Quick facts: In Jun 2000, work got underway on a £100mn FGD retrofit project at West Burton. The turnkey contractor for the installation of the MHI wet limestone systems was FLS Miljo. Contractors Arup Energy and Mowlem formed a design-build partnership to undertake civil works and related infrastructure. The total project was completed in the fall of 2003. SOFA firing systems are being installed on all four units and will be completed by 2008. In July 2004, GE Energy was awarded one of the first contracts in the EU to help meet the lowered NOx emission limits set by the EU Large Combustion Plant Directive for 2008. The target limit for the new installations is 400 mg/m3 for a broad range of coals, 100mg/m3 lower than the 2008 limit. GE is installing separated over-fire air (SOFA) systems with triple-compartment over-fire air nozzles installed on the furnace corners and side walls. The SOFA systems were scheduled for service from 2005-2007.

Photograph courtesy of London Electricity
Posted 25 Apr  2003

Abbreviations

Data: industcards, Platts UDI World Electric Power Plants Data Base

Updated 12/08/10

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