Great Yarmouth Power Station

Great Yarmouth Power Station is currently a 420MWe gas-fired power [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/442475 station] on "South Denes Road" in Great Yarmouth in Norfolk.

History

Great Yarmouth's first power station was built in 1894. Like its successor, it was coal powered and housed a rather iconic large chimney. The complex was demolished in 1961. By this time, a much larger plant had been built on the South Denes. Construction on this plant began in 1954, with it opening in September 1958. The station, and the convert|360|ft|m|sing=on chimney in particular, became a landmark of Great Yarmouth as it could be seen for miles, as far as the outskirts of Norwich on a clear day. It was the tallest structure in Norfolk. This plant ran until 1984 with a brief resurgence in 1985 during the Miner's strike. After that it sat unused, and in 1994 demolition work on the building began. Many of the smaller areas of the building were taken down, leaving only the main building and the chimney. On May 5, 1997 these were demolished via a controlled explosion. Thousands packed the roads on the other side of the River Yare to watch the explosion, and up to, and following the event, there was lots of questioning as to why such a landmark was demolished when it could have been re-used. Construction on the current plant began in late 1998, with it opening in 2001. The site of the current plant is on the same site as the [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/292452 former] South Denes coal-fired power station.

The [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/266147 station] was built by Bechtel, being initially owned by BP, although the plant was run by GE International, trading as IGE Energy Services (UK) Ltd. It was [http://www.npowermediacentre.co.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=729&NewsAreaID=2 bought] by RWE (trading as npower in Swindon) in November 2005 for £155m.

Specification

It is a CCGT type power station that runs on natural gas. It has one 265MWe General Electric Frame 9 (9001FA) gas turbine with the exhaust gas heating a Doosan heat recovery steam generator, leading to a 150MWe steam turbine. It has a dedicated pipeline to connect to the Interconnector (North Sea gas pipeline) and National Gas Transportation System at Bacton, a few miles to the north-west. At 420MW, it generates enough electricity for around 350,000 homes. It has a thermal efficiency of 57%. The terminal voltage of the plant is 19kV, which meets the National Grid via a transformer at 132kV. The steam condenser uses about 9 tonnes of water a second from the River Yare.

External links

* [http://www.rwe.com/generator.aspx/rwe-npower/group-structure/language=en/id=334714/rwe-npower-generation-and-renewables-great-yarmouth.html RWE]
* [http://www.industcards.com/cc-england-east-mid.htm Other CCGTs in eastern England]
* [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/gtyarmouth/news/feature/pwrstn/powerst.htm Former power station]
* [http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/Mergers_home/decisions/2006/rwe Acquisition of the power station by RWE at the Office of Fair Trading]