Grain Power Station

Infobox UK power station
map_type=Kent
os_grid_reference=TQ886753
latitude=51.445181
longitude=0.715028
static_

country=England
region=South East England
shire_county=Kent
operator=E.ON
fuel=Oil-fired
fuel_capacity=1,320MW
opened=1979

Grain Power Station is an oil-fired power station in Kent, England.

Grain was built on a convert|250|acre|km2|sing=on site by the nationalised Central Electricity Generating Board in 1979. It is located on the Isle of Grain, where the River Medway flows into the Thames Estuary. The station has the second tallest chimney in the UK, [ [http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?buildingID=2297 Flue gas stack illustration] ] at convert|244|m|ft|0, visible from a wide area of North Kent and parts of South Essex. It adjoins the site of the BP Kent oil refinery, which closed in 1982.

The station was originally designed to have a total capacity of 3,300MW but currently has an operational capacity of 1,320MW. The two remaining oil-fired generating units were mothballed by Powergen in 2002 and 2003, but almost immediately the company began to consider reopening the plant as electricity prices increased rapidly.

The station burns oil to drive two 690MW turbines that are capable of generating enough electricity to supply approximately 3% of the UK's electricity needs. It is currently operated by E.ON, which also operates the nearby Kingsnorth coal-fired station.

In 2006 E.ON announced plans for a 1,200 megawatt gas-fired station at Grain.

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2312923.stm 2002 Mothballing plan]
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article101568.ece 2003 Reopening]
* [http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/%C2%A3350m-Grain-power-station-gets-green-light-newsinkent1951.aspx Gas-fired station]
* [http://www.power-to-inspire.co.uk/Apprentices/EnergyProduction/EnergyProduction.asp?location=Kingsnorth%20and%20Grain%20Power%20Stations EON website]