Blyth Power Station
Blyth power stations | |
---|---|
Innogy plc (2000-2001) | |
Thermal power station | |
Primary fuel | Bituminous coal |
Power generation | |
Make and model | Metropolitan-Vickers English Electric |
Units decommissioned | A station: 4× 120 MW B station: 2× 275 MW 2× 350 MW |
Nameplate capacity | 1960: 480 MW 1966: 1,730 MW 1991: 1,180 MW |
External links | |
Commons | Related media on Commons |
Blyth Power Station (also known as Cambois Power Station) refers to a pair of now demolished
on the opposite bank of the estuary. Blyth A Power Station was built and opened first but had a smaller generating capacity than its sister station, Blyth B Power Station, which was built to its west four years later. The power stations' four large chimneys were a landmark of the Northumberland skyline for over 40 years; the A Station's two chimneys each stood at 140 metres (460 ft); the B Station's two chimneys were taller, at 170 metres (560 ft) each.Construction of the B Station began shortly after the A station was completed. The stations were built during a period in which there were great advances in power station technology, and in the scale of production, which led to them having a variety of intermediate generator set sizes along with a mix of design styles.
The A Station first generated electricity in 1958, a year after the creation of the
History
Background
Following the
Year ended 31 March | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1972 | 1979 | 1982 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Electricity supplied, GWh | 1,380 | 2,455 | 3,266 | 3,379 | 3,401 | 3,071 | 3,242 | 2,977 | 2,958 | 2,654 |
Average load as % of maximum output | 64 | 66.3 | 83.2 | 86.11 | 86.4 | 78.2 | 82.6 | 75.7 | 75.4 | 67.6 |
Thermal efficiency % | 34.31 | 34.11 | 34.30 | 34.55 | 34.68 | 34.39 | 34.62 | 34.36 | 33.11 | 34.35 |
Annual output of Blyth A power station, GWh
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
The Blyth Power Stations were to be an experiment, using a variety of generating set sizes at a time when engineers were trying to standardise power station plant and layout.[1] Blyth was the first in the UK to use generating sets larger than the then standard 30 MW and 60 MW. The station's location was chosen because of its position within the super grid, rather than to be near a load centre.[11]
The site chosen for the construction of the power stations was close to the coal mining town of Cambois. Ordnance Survey maps as far back as 1860 show that before building work began the land had been used as open farmland, with fields of varying shapes and sizes.[4]
Construction
Permission for Blyth A Power Station to be built was granted in February 1955, and its construction took place between 1955 and 1960. The station's first unit went into operation in December 1958, and the A Station was fully operational by June 1960.
Design and specification
The large 98-hectare (240-acre) site was separated by Bedlington-Cambois Road, with the stations' main buildings, admin blocks and ash dock to the south of the road, and coal storage area and railway sidings to the north.[7] The ground to the south of this road consisted of a 21-metre (69 ft) thick layer of boulder clay, overlaying sandstone and coal. The main foundations of the buildings were spread out, giving a load of about 2.3 tonnes (2.264 long tons; 2.535 short tons) per square foot.[7]
Each of the stations featured large boiler houses, turbine halls, switch houses, flue gas cleaning plant and a pair of concrete chimneys.
Blyth B's turbine hall was 206 metres (676 ft) long by 51 metres (167 ft) wide and 30 metres (98 ft) high. It housed two 275 MW and two 350 MW English Electric 3,000 rpm turbo generators, each connected to a Clarke Chapman & Co boiler, situated in the boiler house. The boiler house was 206 metres (676 ft) long by 32 metres (105 ft) wide and 52 metres (171 ft) high. The coal fed into the boilers was pulverised by a Babcock & Wilcox pulveriser. Each pulveriser was capable of pulverising 40 tonnes (39.37 long tons; 44.09 short tons) of coal an hour, and two pulverisers fed each boiler. There were two boilers rated at 227 kg/s steam production and two boilers rated at 280 k/g/s. For all four boilers the steam pressure was 158.58 bar and 566°C and 566°C reheat.[15] Both the turbine hall and boiler house were built from a steel frame, clad with aluminium and glazing. The roofs of the B Station's buildings were made from a lightweight aluminium decking. The B Station's switchgear was provided by A. Reyrolle & Company and by M&C Switchgear. The volume of Blyth B's main buildings represented 0.76 cubic metres (27 cu ft)/kW of installed capacity, while Blyth A's building volume represented 0.74 cubic metres (26 cu ft)/kW.[7]
Operations
Coal transportation
The stations burned a mix of
Cooling system
Water is essential to a thermal power station, to create the steam to turn the steam turbines and generate electricity. Water used in the power station at Blyth was extracted from the Blyth Harbour tidal basin at the ash dock.[4] Once used in the station, the hot water had to be cooled before it could be discharged. Condensers were used to convert steam from the turbines back into water. The stations' condensers were of twin two-pass design and had a total cooling surface of 70,000 square feet (6,500 m2). Condensed water was then extracted by two duty pumps. The water then passed through a drains cooler. The cooled waste water was discharged into the sea off Cambois beach below low tide level.[7]
Ash removal
Closure and demolition
Closure
In 1989, Blyth A won a place in the
During the 1990s, the station became one of the UK's least efficient power stations.
At the time of its closure, Blyth Power Station was the oldest coal-fired power station in Britain.
Shortly after its closure, a joint proposal was made by the
Demolition
The demolition contract for the station was won by London-based company Brown & Mason.[20] Before the demolition of the stations' main structures, it was required that they be decommissioned. This involved the removal of hazardous materials and contaminants, to keep in line with Health & Safety at Work regulations. Oils and chemicals were removed for re-use or disposal and storage tanks were flushed out. Methanol was removed from hydrogen production plants on site, along with bottled propane used for welding. The remaining coal in the coal storage area was dispatched to operating power stations in other parts of the country. The landfill site where ash waste from the station was dumped was topsoiled. A programme to remove Asbestos used in the stations commenced decades prior to the demolition of the stations' structures.[1]
The stations were demolished between 2001 and 2003. The smaller buildings and structures were first to be demolished. One worker was killed during the demolition work, in May 2001, crushed underneath an electrical connection box which fell from a wall.[30] On 31 October 2001, the ash silo which stood at the ash dock was toppled using explosives to demolish the stilts the structure stood on. The silo was then dismantled by bulldozers.[31] All of the smaller structures had been removed by July 2002.[12] On 11 July 2002, the A Station's boiler house was demolished.[32][33] The 61-metre (200 ft) high coal conveyor belt was demolished on 6 February 2003.[33] The station's precipitators were demolished on 27 March and 17 April 2003.[34][35] On 1 May 2003, the B Station's bunker bay building was demolished, and on 22 May 2003, the station's air heater was demolished.[35][36] A fire started at the station on 17 June 2003, when a bunker caught fire after hot cutting equipment set fire to coke remnants.[37] All of the larger structures had been demolished by July 2003.[12] It was planned for the stations' chimneys to be demolished in October 2003, but that had to be postponed due to the complexity of the demolition.[38] However, at noon on 7 December 2003, the four chimneys, each weighing 17,000 tonnes (16,730 long tons; 18,740 short tons), were demolished using a total of 150 kilograms (330 lb) of the industrial explosive Gelemex.[12][39] The demolition is thought to have been the biggest chimney demolition in 50 years.[39]
Present and future uses of the site
Since Innogy plc was taken over by
Clean coal power station
In May 2007, Npower announced plans to build a new £2 billion
The station would have had an efficiency of 46%, which in comparison to conventional subcritical coal-fired power stations, equates to a reduction in
Coal was expected to be able to be delivered to the station by rail, as well as by ship to the Port of Blyth. The station's coal storage area would have stored a minimum 45 days worth of coal supply. All of the station's
Fifteen hundred jobs would have been created during the station's construction, and more than 200 full-time jobs would have been available once the station was operating.[42]
The Environmental Assessment Scoping Report for the proposed station was submitted to the
In August 2009, following a visit to Cambois from
Despite this support, RWE announced in November 2009 that they have postponed their plans for the new power station. They are not yet going make a formal planning application for the plant, saying that the time is not right for such a huge investment. Dave Carlton, RWE's project manager, has said that they "see the site as an important one, both for RWE npower and in terms of the UK’s future power generation”, and so RWE npower have retained the site for a possible future power station.
Wind turbine factory
In April 2010, Malcolm Reid proposed the station's site as a possible location for a £80 million Siemens wind turbine factory. The factory would create 700 jobs and up to 1,500 further jobs in the supply chain if built. He has said the site would be perfect for the factory because of its close proximity to NaREC and the site's existing deep dock facilities. The factory is likely to be built either in Blyth or on Humberside.[48]
Britishvolt
In December 2020, Blyth was confirmed as the location for a new lithium-ion automotive battery manufacturing plant.[6] In July 2021, plans for the £2.6bn gigafactory employing 3,000 people were approved, with the new Britishvolt plant to be located on former coalyards adjacent to the former power station in Cambois.[49] Britishvolt appointed ISG as its construction partner who began work on clearing the site in late 2021.[50] In January 2022, the UK government, through its Automotive Transformation Fund, invested £100m in the Britishvolt project, alongside asset management company abrdn and its property investment arm Tritax,[51] supporting what was planned to be Britain's fourth largest building.[52] However, construction work was halted in August 2022 amid funding concerns.[53][54] On 17 January 2023, Britishvolt went into administration, and its factory site was put up for sale.[55][56]
Social and cultural impact
The power stations had very few television and film appearances:
- In 1991, the site was used as a shooting location for the sci-fi horror film Alien 3.[12] Various locations in the North East of England were used in shooting the film, and the power station provided the location for some shots of the planet surface.[57]
- During the latter stages of the stations' demolition, a documentary was made. The documentary was included in the Channel Five television programme The Demolition Squad.[58]
Despite the small amount of media usage of the power stations, their four chimneys were still a strong landmark within the south east Northumberland landscape. They could be seen from as far south as 18 kilometres (11 mi) away at Callerton, in Newcastle upon Tyne, and over an 13.2 kilometres (8.2 mi) stretch of coast, from Seaton Sluice up to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. This is mostly because the stations were constructed in a largely flat, rural area.
In 1995, the site was considered for scheduling by English Heritage, because of its national importance as a good example of a late 20th-century power station. It was also important because of its use as a testing ground for various generating sizes, from which came success in the UK's electricity industry. However, by then the station's buildings were in poor condition and it would have been financially difficult to ensure their long term preservation. Instead, it was decided a comprehensive study and photographic record of the station would be commissioned.[11]
Due to the closure of Blyth Power Stations, along with the power stations at Dunston and Stella in the 1980s and 1990s respectively, the northern part of North East England has become heavily dependent upon the National Grid for electrical supply. However, there are still two power stations at Hartlepool and Wilton in the south of the region.[59] The nearby Blyth Harbour Wind Farm was built in 1993, and the Blyth Offshore Wind Farm started in 2000, beginning the UK offshore wind capacity.
See also
- Electricity Act 1947
- Electricity Act 1957
- Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
- List of power stations in England
- Northern Electric
- Timeline of the UK electricity supply industry
References
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- ^ CEGB (1966). CEGB Statistical Yearbooks 1964, 1965, 1966, 1972. London: CEGB. p. 20.
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National Power is to close the coal-fired Blyth Power Station with the loss of 131 jobs, having failed to find a buyer.
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Energy supplier RWE npower revealed the proposals for the environmentally friendly plant in Blyth, Northumberland, which, if it went ahead, could see millions of tonnes of foreign coal shipped into the port town. It is estimated around 1,500 construction jobs would be created up to the plant's completion in 2014 on the site of the old Blyth Power Station knocked down in 2003. Then more than 200 full-time staff would be needed for its day-to-day running.
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- ^ "Britishvolt begins construction on Blyth factory". Electrive.com. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
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External links
- BBC News - photo gallery of chimney demolition
- Newbiggin-by-the-Sea - Photos of chimney demolition from Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
- Google Video - Video of chimney demolition
- YouTube - Video with two different views of chimney demolition
- Cefas - Monthly mean sea temperature at Blyth Power Station
- npower UK
- Fotopic - Photos of the coal storage area
- PANiC Stations - A group of local residents and a collection of various agencies, who are opposed to the construction of a new coal-fired station
- Politics Show - Debate over the construction of the proposed new station
- Video Part 1 + Part 2 - Video commemorating Byth A power station's world record breaking achievements