Contributions of the group Power Stations

Last days

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 05:49:46 +0000

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Rugeley 'B' power station was still generating for a few more weeks when I took this, but was finally switched off on June 9th, 2016. It was commissioned in 1970 and could generate around 1000 megawatts of electricity.

The passing Pendelino is the icing on the cake.

Gravel loader

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 16:59:37 +0000

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Attenborough sand and gravel pit was established in Nottinghamshire in the 1920s. Since then the pit has expanded up the Trent Valley in Nottinghamshire, and into Derbyshire. The extraction at the time (2009), operated by CEMEX UK Materials (Aggregates) Ltd, was undertaken almost 5km from the processing plant and material is moved across the flooded former workings with barges pushed by Bantam tugs.

The flooded pits form an extensive nature reserve which is managed by Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and Broxtowe Borough Council. Here an empty barge is arriving under the loader with the chimney and cooling towers of Ratcliffe power station in the background. This interesting water traffic seems to have ended in 2016 after exhaustion of the gravel reserves.

Unit 2

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 06:42:05 +0000

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Parsons built Generating unit No.2 at Ratcliffe power station. This had a rated output of 500 MW.

Generation Hall

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 05:23:28 +0000

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Looking across the generating hall at Ratcliffe power station back when it was still at work. This was the cleanest, tidiest, power station I have ever been in.

Dungeness Power

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 31 May 2026 06:04:53 +0000

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The two closed nuclear power stations at Dungeness, Kent.

To the left Dungeness A is a legacy Magnox power station consisting of two 250 MWe reactors which were connected to the National Grid in 1965 and reached its end of life in 2006. Its decommissioning is being managed by Nuclear Restoration Services.

At the right Dungeness B is an advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) power station consisting of two 520 MWe reactors, which began operation in 1983 and 1985. They were the first in a series of AGR reactors to be constructed across the UK. In March 2009, unexpected problems discovered during a maintenance shutdown on unit B21 resulted in the reactor remaining offline for nearly 18 months. In 2015, the plant received upgrades and was given a second ten-year life extension to 2028. In September 2018, as both units were shut down for a scheduled maintenance outage, operator EDF (Électricité de France) encountered "significant and ongoing technical challenges" which ultimately led to the announcement of its closure on 7 June 2021.

Coal power

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:16:48 +0000

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Cottam power station on load on a cold January day.

Coal power

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 05:36:12 +0000

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Coal fired generation hard at work at Fiddler's Ferry, seen from Wigg Island across the Mersey.

Energy from waste

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 15:52:03 +0000

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The Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant (LSEP) is an Energy from Waste facility which is currently under construction at the Lostock Works site near Northwich in Cheshire, formerly the coal fired power station for Lostock Works. It will export 69.9MW of electricity to the grid using residual waste (the waste material remaining once materials that can be recycled have been removed) as a fuel. It was was due to open in 2025 but is running behind schedule.

LSEP Ltd is a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and FCC Environment.

Two giants

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 07:05:48 +0000

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West Burton power station was on part load whilst beyond the Cottam power station was hard at work on this bright cold winter day in January 2019. All now closed and under demolition.

Power Station Peat

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 07:06:47 +0000

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Trainloads of peat in the arrival sidings at the Edenderry power station in County Offaly.

Thorpe Marsh towers

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 05:44:41 +0000

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Six cooling towers mark the location of the former Thorpe Marsh power station. The 1000mw station opened in the 1960s and was closed in 1994 at a time when coal-fired generation was becoming unpopular and uneconomic. The main buildings were demolished in 1996 but the towers remained until 2012.

Max cooling

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 06:43:51 +0000

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Fiddler's Ferry power station at full output back in 2006.Fiddler's Ferry power station at full output back in 2006.

Emergency power

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 08:35:44 +0000

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Thelwall Lane Power Station at Latchford is operated by sembcorp as a power resilience unit using diesel generators when other, cheaper, options for supplying the national grid have been exhausted. I can find very little detail as to the capacity of the site and even when it was built. It seems to have been associated with UK Power Reserve Limited at one time.

Biopower

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 06:52:46 +0000

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Power station at the UPM Caledonian Paper mill at Irvine. This biomass fired 99 MWth / 28 MWe CHP plant supplies half the mill's electricity needs and all of its process steam requirements.

Keadby 1

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:52:45 +0000

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built in 1996 and is operated by Scottish and Southern Energy. It has a generation capacity of 735MW. This combined cycle gas-fired power station was mothballed in 2013 due to adverse market conditions and brought back on line in November 2015. A second station has now been built adjacent to this one and a third is under construction.

Hydro lock

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:46:41 +0000

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The building of the Shannon hydroelectric scheme in the late 1920s required navigation to be maintained down to Limerick after the Parteen Weir cut off the old route via O'Briensbridge. This was achieved by building a double staircase lock at the Ardnacrusha power station. Taken from the approach canal this shows the entrance to the lower lock which has a rise of 34ft whilst the top lock has a rise of 68ft. This is the deepest lock in Britain and Ireland.

Gas powered

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 12:08:51 +0000

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South Humber Bank Power Station is a 1,265 MW gas-fired power station at Stallingborough. Phase 1, completed in 1997, consists of three 166 MW gas turbines with three heat recovery steam generators. It was designed and built by a consortium of Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie (CMI) and International Combustion, and 255 MW steam turbine. Phase 2 was completed in 1999 and consists of two 169 MW gas turbines, two heat recovery steam generators and a 171 MW steam turbine. It is similar to two CCGTs next-door to each other.

The station is owned by EP UK Investments Ltd., which is daughter company of EP Power Europe, which is 100% owned by Czech energy group EPH (owned by Daniel Křetínský). EPH bought South Humber Bank power station from Centrica in June 2017.

Fushun Cogen power station

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 07:08:17 +0000

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Situated fairly close to the enormous opencast coal mine at Fushun, the Cogen plant has a capacity of 150Mw. It was a joint venture with 60% held by the Hong Kong based CK Infrastructure Holdings Limited. It is currently being replaced by a new facility comprising 2 x 300Mw units burning coal waste.

Making clouds

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 15 Dec 2024 06:41:09 +0000

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Fiddler's Ferry Power Station could burn up to 16,000 tonnes of coal a day and was also capable of co-firing biomass. Opened in 1971, the station had a generating capacity of 1,989 megawatts and was latterly operated by Scottish and Southern Energy.

West Burton

nobody@ipernity.com (tarboat) — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 07:44:56 +0000

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The 2,000MW coal-fired power station at West Burton on the River Trent was commissioned in 1968. It was still working when I visited in 2019 but now demolition is well underway.