Carrington Power Station
| Carrington Power Station | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Country | England | |
| Location | Greater Manchester, North West England | |
| Coordinates | 53°26′09″N 2°24′39″W / 53.435771°N 2.410892°W | |
| Status | Operational | |
| Construction began |
| |
| Commission date |
| |
| Decommission date | 1991 (coal) | |
| Operator(s) | Combined cycle ? | Yes |
| Power generation | ||
| Units operational | 2 (combined cycle gas) | |
| Units planned | 4 × 60 MW | |
| Units decommissioned | 4 (coal) | |
| Nameplate capacity |
| |
grid reference SJ728933 | ||
Carrington Power Station is a
History - coal-fired power station
Background
The station's site, on the south-east bank of the point where the
Construction, design and specification
Because the station's site was surrounded by water on two sides, its
Commissioning of the station's first generating set took place in 1953. All of the station's generating sets were commissioned by 1956.
Operation
The station generated electricity using four 60 megawatt (MW)
Initially the station operated at base load, and maintained a good load factor into the middle of its life.
The generating capacity and electricity output from Carrington power station is given in the following table.[5][6][7][8]
| Year | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1967 | 1972 | 1979 | 1982 | 1989 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Installed capacity, MW | 56 | 112 | 168 | 244 | 240 | 256 | 256 | 256 | 240 | 256 | 256 | 256 | 240 |
| Electricity output, GWh | 118.191 | 687.620 | 816.664 | 1048.611 | 1699.250 | 1242.6 | 1227.1 | 1528.8 | 1743.4 | 1063.129 | 879.846 | 712.120 | ? |
The electricity output is demonstrated by the following graph.
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on PowerGen.[4] It continued generating electricity until it was closed in 1991, and was demolished several years later.[10]
Current gas-fired power stationBackgroundA Trafford Council . Its construction began in late 2009, providing 900 construction jobs. Fifty permanent jobs are provided by the current power station.
Construction, design and specificationBarge transport was used where possible for all heavy loads, such as the gas turbines. Shipments from global locations such as China, Indonesia, Germany, Poland and Spain navigated to Ellesmere port in Cheshire and eventually along the Manchester Ship Canal to the Carrington site. The 40 km (25 mi) trip from Ellesmere to Carrington was undertaken a total of 20 times. Across the 800 kilometres of waterways travelled, approx. 8,000 tonnes of equipment was transported. ESB claimed that this was 50% more efficient than road transport and that 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions were prevented as a result. Given the large workforce at the project, a ‘green travel plan’ was also implemented where workers were transported to and from the site via double-decker buses from satellite car parks. These measures reduced the impact of traffic on local residents. Due to the sustainable approaches adopted during construction of the station, the project was shortlisted for a UK corporate responsibility award in 2014. The station is a Combined-Cycle Power Plant (CCPP), using natural gas to generate 884MW of electricity. The CCPP uses both a gas and a steam turbine together, to produce up to 50 per cent more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple-cycle plant. The waste heat from the gas turbine is routed to the nearby steam turbine, which generates additional power. Carrington consists of two CCPP KA26-1 units. At operating design conditions, each CCPP unit generates 442.3 MW net output. The station generates enough power to meet the electricity needs of one million homes in the UK and began commercial operation on 18 September 2016. In 2013, summary judgement from the High Court of Justice to enforce payment for a reduced amount of £1,445,495.78. Judge Smith refused because part of the sum related to a power plant and was therefore excluded from the 1996 Act, and the adjudicator's jurisdiction. Duro Felguera argued it was in fact owed money by Severfield because of overpayments.[12]
Severfield finally obtained a judgement in 2017 for £2,774,077.91 (or £1,760,480.27 up to 2014) but by then Duro Felguera UK Ltd had entered liquidation and recovery was limited to what Duro Felguera in Spain could be obliged to pay under a parent company guarantee for the period up to 2014.[13] Power trainEach power train includes an Alstom GT26 gas turbine, a horizontal triple-pressure Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG), a TOPGAS hydrogen-cooled generator and an Alstom STF15C triple pressure reheat steam turbine with axial exhaust and all other auxiliaries to operate the plant. The total combined power output of the two power trains is 884 MW. The GT26B gas turbine burns a mixture of compressed air and gas. When this mixture is ignited, the products of combustion expand over the blades of the turbine which generates torque on the shaft. Each gas turbine contributes roughly 293 MW to the overall plant output. The thermal block of the GT26B gas turbine contains the compressor, two combustion chambers, a high-pressure and a low-pressure turbine, inside a common outer housing. The main feature of the GT26 gas turbine is sequential combustion. The gas turbine incorporates two combustors that operate simultaneously and sequentially, providing higher thermal efficiencies with lower temperatures and emissions. The Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG), is a boiler which is designed to use the heat from the exhaust gases of the gas turbine to create steam for the steam turbine. This increases the overall efficiency of each unit. The steam turbine adds approximately 161 MW to the overall power output of each unit. There are 3 cylinders within the steam turbine; each generate a different amount of power. References
External links
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