Roosecote Power Station

Roosecote Power Station is a 229MWe gas-fired power station on "Rampside Road" in the Roosecote district of Barrow-in-Furness near the [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/100832 A5087] . It was the first CCGT power [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/726650 station] to supply electricity to the UK's National Grid.

History

First CCGT in the UK's electricity supply

It was built on the site of a former CEGB 120MWe coal-fired power station which ran from 1954-86. The first organisation to plan for a new power station was Cumbria Power in 1987, formed of four engineers. They hoped to build a CCGT plant that used the steam turbines of the former plant. This part of their idea was not going to happen, so a new power station was chosen instead, but situated in the former turbine hall. ABB joined the planning process in April 1989, and a new company - Lakeland Power Ltd - was formed, being owned 80% by ABB and 20% by Cumbria Power. In October 1989, NORWEB signed an agreement with Lakeland Power to have a supply of electricity - the first such agreement between a UK REC and a private generator. NORWEB also bought 20% of the company. Construction, done by Alfred McAlpine and Stone & Webster, started on January 3 1990 and it was commissioned on November 20 1991, although officially opened on November 1 1991 by John Wakeham. It had been the first Independent Power Project (IPP) since the privatisation of the UK electricity industry in 1990. It was run by ABB, though owned by Lakeland Power. ABB then sold its 60% stake of the company to California-based Edison Mission Energy, who bought the rest of the company from NORWEB in October 1999. In December 2002, this company went into receivership, due to financial troubles of Texas-based TXU who had bought NORWEB's supply business, and the station was temporarily shut down. It was bought for £24m by Centrica Energy on May 14 2003.

Implications for the coal industry

Following Roosecote's path were many more CCGTs to be built in the UK, as an alternative to coal power. This would hasten the sorely-felt demise of Britain's coal industry as well. In 1997, restrictions were placed on the number of gas fired power stations that could be built by the newly elected Labour government.

pecification

It is a CCGT-type power station that runs on natural gas, which comes from the Centrica gas terminal next door - from the Morecambe Bay field. It has one 165MWe Alstom GT13E gas turbine, with the alternator having a terminal voltage of 15.75kV, and is rated at 210MVA, from which the exhaust gases at 520C pass through one CMI heat recovery steam generator. Steam from this powers one 63MWe steam turbine, with the generator having a terminal voltage of 12.5kV. It employs thirty three people. It has a thermal efficiency of 49%. Electricity enters the National Grid, via a transformer, at 132kV where it powers part of the United Utilities (former NORWEB) network. It does not run as a baseload station, but is used for peakload operation.

External links

* [http://www.centricaenergy.com/index.asp?pageid=19&area=roosecote Centrica Energy]
* [http://www.industcards.com/cc-england-north.htm Other CCGTs in northern England]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/2965995.stm Centrica buys the station in 2003]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2638173.stm Station mothballed in January 2003]