West Thurrock Power Station

Infobox UK power station
static_

static_image_caption=West Thurrock Power Station, 1973.
map_type=Essex
os_grid_reference=TQ589770
latitude=51.469573
longitude=0.288756
country=England
region=East of England
shire_county=Essex
operator=CEGB
fuel=Coal-fired
fuel_capacity=1,300MW
opened=1962
closed=1993

West Thurrock Power Station was a coal-fired power station on the River Thames at Stone Ness, West Thurrock in Essex. The station was close to the northern end of the 380kV Thames Crossing of the National Grid.

History

The station was built by the Central Electricity Generating Board and unlike most of the power stations further up the Thames, West Thurrock was built in the 1950s and on a green field site. Construction, which included the piling and landfilling of the marshy riverside, took several years; starting in 1957 until it was opened in 1962. The station had two convert|175|m|abbr=on tall chimneys made from reinforced concrete. [ [http://www.thinkdelta.com/content/view/50/74/ Demolition contractor's website] ] Later conversion work allowed the station to burn oil and natural gas as well as coal. It closed in 1993, leaving a stockpile of nearly half a million tonnes of coal, which was transported downstream to the nearby Tilbury Power Station by Rhine barge. [ [http://www.westthurrockpowerstation.co.uk/ West Thurrock Power Station] ]

After demolition part of the site was redeveloped as a works making industrial chemicals, and utilising the former coaling jetty. A proposal to build a large postal sorting office on the former fly-ash lagoons proved controversial due to the wildlife that had colonised the site.

References

External links

* [http://www.westthurrockpowerstation.co.uk/ West Thurrock Power Station: The End of a River Side Giant 1957 - 1993]