Ferrybridge power stations

The Ferrybridge power stations are a series of three coal-fired power stations situated on the River Aire near Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire, England, next to the junction of the M62 and A1(M) motorways.

Ferrybridge power stations
Ferrybridge C Power Station
Viewed from the west in August 2005
CountryEngland
LocationKnottingley
Coordinates53.71740°N 1.28058°W / 53.71740; -1.28058
StatusOperational
Construction beganA station: 1926
B station: 1955[1]
C station: 1961
Multifuel 1: 2011
Commission dateA station: 1927
B station: 1957
C station: 1966
Multifuel 1: 2015[2]
Decommission dateA station: 1976
B station: 1992
C station: 2016
Operator(s)
Thermal power station
Primary fuelCoal
Secondary fuelBiomass
Power generation
Nameplate capacityA station: 125 MW
B station: 300 MW
C station: 2,034 MW
Multifuel 1: 68 MW
External links
Website www.sse.com/Ferrybridge/ 
CommonsRelated media on Commons

The first station on the site, Ferrybridge A power station, was constructed in the mid-1920s, and was closed in 1976; the main building has been retained as workshops. Ferrybridge B was brought into operation in the 1950s and closed in the early 1990s.

In 1966, Ferrybridge C power station was opened with a generating capacity of 2 GW from four 500 MW sets; constructed by Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB); on privatisation in 1989 ownership was passed to Powergen, then to Edison Mission Energy (1999), then to AEP Energy Services (American Electric Power) (2001) and to SSE plc (2004). Ferrybridge C closed in March 2016.

Two of the four units were fitted with flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) plant in 2009. In 2013 SSE indicated that the power station would not comply with the Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU) requiring the plant's closure by 2023 or earlier. It was later announced that the plant would be fully closed by March 2016.[4]

Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 is a 68 MW multi-fuel plant at the site which became operational in 2015.[2]

On 28 July 2019, one of Ferrybridge's cooling towers was demolished,[5] followed by a further four more on 13 October, leaving only three of the original eight towers standing, 3 years after the plants' closure.[6]

Ferrybridge A (1917–1976)
Ferrybridge main building and switchgear house (c.1927)

Land at Ferrybridge was purchased by the West Yorkshire Power Company in 1917. Plans for a power station were prepared and submitted to the Board of Trade in March 1918. Because of a system change the following year with the Electricity (Supply) Act 1919, the plans were put on hold. The plans were resubmitted to the Electricity Commissioners in January 1920. The plans were finally granted permission in November 1921, but delayed by a supply area reshuffle.[7] A 135 acres (55 ha) site was chosen with good access to coal, water, and good transport links including water transport.[8]

Construction of Ferrybridge A power station began in 1926 and the station began operating in 1927.[9] The initial station covered 32 acres (13 ha) of the site.[8] The main buildings contained the boilers, turbines, and offices and workshops, and a smaller building housed the electrical switchgear.[10] Transport facilities included sidings connected to the Dearne Valley line with equipment for handling wagons up to 20 t, and a river wharf for transport by barge.[8] Wagon unloading was by a side tipper, into an automated weigher and then conveyors, and barge unloading was by a crane into the weighing machine.[11] The cooling water intakes were 550 ft (170 m) upstream of the wharves, initially with two filtered intakes with a minimum capacity (low water) of 3,000,000 imp gal (14,000 m3) of water per hour.[12]

The power generating equipment included eight 75,000 lb (34,000 kg) per hour water boiling capacity water tube boilers arranged in pairs, sharing air draught and chimneys (166 ft (51 m) height). The boilers were designed to produce superheated steam at 315 psi (21.4 atm) at 700 °F (371 °C)[13] The turbine/generator section had two 3,000 rpm three stage reaction turbines driving alternators rated at 19 MW continuous.[14] The alternators produced 50 Hz 3 phase AC at 11 kV, which was stepped up to 33 kV by two sets of three single phase transformers rated at 25 MW per set.[15][16]

The main building of Ferrybridge A converted to use as workshops by RWE npower (2006)

The station passed into the ownership of the British Electricity Authority on the nationalisation of the UK's power industry, with the Electricity Act 1947. This company in turn became the Central Electricity Authority in 1954. The annual electricity output of the A station was:[17][18]

Electricity output of Ferrybridge A
Year 1946 1960–1 1961–2 1962–3
Electricity supplied, GWh 468.151 541.1 545.7 549.0

The station closed on 25 October 1976, at which point it had a generating capacity of 125 MW.[19]

Ferrybridge A's boiler room and turbine hall still stand today; its single large concrete chimney has been demolished. The buildings are now used as offices and workshops,[9] by the RWE npower Technical Support Group, who are responsible for the maintenance and repairs of power station plant from around the country.

Ferrybridge B (1957–1992)

Ferrybridge B Power Station was constructed in the 1950s. It generated electricity using three 100 megawatt (MW) generating sets, which were commissioned between 1957 and 1959. The station originally had a total generating capacity of 300 MW, but by the 1990s this was recorded as 285 MW. Ferrybridge B was one of the CEGB’s twenty steam power stations with the highest thermal efficiency; in 1963–4 the thermal efficiency was 32.34 per cent, 31.98 per cent in 1964–5, and 31.96 per cent in 1965–6.[20] The annual electricity output of Ferrybridge B was:[20]

Electricity output of Ferrybridge B
Year 1959–60 1960–1 1961–2 1962–3 1963–4 1964–5 1965–6 1971–2 1978–9 1981–2
Electricity supplied, GWh 1,484 2,029 1,954 1,921 2,065 2,014 1,912 1,719 1,258 1,651

After the UK's electric supply industry was privatised in 1990, the station was operated by PowerGen.[21] The station closed in 1992 and has since been completely demolished.[9][21]

In 2006 LaFarge began construction of a plasterboard factory adjacent to the Ferrybridge C power station on the site of the former Ferrybridge B station to use the Calcium Sulphate (Gypsum) produced by FGD.[22]

Ferrybridge C (1966–2016)

CEGB period (1966–1989)

The power station was originally built for and operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board.

Construction and commissioning

Work began at the site in 1961 and was completed by 1968.[23] The architects were the Building Design Partnership.[24] There were two chimneys and the eight cooling towers were arranged in a lozenge pattern on side of the building. On 1 November 1965, three of the cooling towers collapsed due to vibrations in 85 mph winds. Although the structures had been built to withstand higher wind speeds, the design only considered average wind speeds over one minute and neglected shorter gusts. Furthermore, the grouped shape of the cooling towers meant that westerly winds were funnelled into the towers themselves, creating a vortex. Three out of the original eight cooling towers were destroyed and the remaining five were severely damaged. The towers were rebuilt and all eight cooling towers were strengthened to tolerate adverse weather conditions.[9][25][26]

Commission of Ferrybridge C began in 1966: one unit was brought on line, feeding electricity into the National Grid, on 27 February 1966.[27][28] Units 2, 3 and 4 were all commissioned by the end of 1967.[23] Following the cooling tower accident, it was expected that the station would not be opened for some time after the scheduled date. However it was possible to connect one of the remaining towers to the now complete Unit 1. The reconstruction of the destroyed towers had been completed by 1968.[29]

Specification

Ferrybridge C Power Station had four 500 MW generating sets,[9] (known as units 1–4). There were four boilers rated at 435 kg/s, steam conditions were 158.58 bar at 566/566°C reheat.[30] In addition to the main generating sets the plant originally had four gas turbines with a combined capacity of 68 MW. Two were retired in the late 1990s reducing capacity to 34 MW.[31] These units are used to start the plant in the absence of an external power supply.

The generating capacity, electricity output and thermal efficiency were as shown in the table.[20]

Ferrybridge C
Year Net capability, MW Electricity supplied, GWh Load as percent of capability, % Thermal efficiency, %
1971/2 2000 7,340 44.0 33.94
1978/9 1932 11,721 69.3 34.85
1981/2 1932 10,229 60.4 36.51

Coal supply was by rail transport (initially 4m. tons a year in 1,000-ton Merry-go-round trains at the rate of 17 a day)[32] and road transport and barge (initially 1m. tons[32] on the Aire and Calder Navigation).[9] Barge transport ended in the late 1990s.[33] Rail transport comprised a branch off the adjacent Swinton and MIlford Junction line. Facilities include a west-facing junction on the Swinton line, two coal discharge lines (No. 1 track and No. 2 track), gross- and tare-weight weighbridges, a hopper house, together with an oil siding.[34][35] The automatic unloading equipment for the coal trains was built by Rhymney Engineering, a Powell Duffryn company. It used ultrasonic detection, capable of dealing with up to 99 wagons in a train (though initially trains had 35 hopper wagons), to control the door-opening gear to empty 5 wagons at a time into the bunkers.[36]

The plant's two chimneys are 198 m (650 ft) high. The eight cooling towers were built to a height of 115 m (377 ft), three of which remain at the site.[33]

Post-privatisation (1989–present)

Ownership passed to Powergen (1989) after the privatisation of the Central Electricity Generating Board. In 1998, during the 1990s "dash for gas", Powergen closed Unit 4.[37] In 1999 however, Ferrybridge Power Station, along with Fiddlers Ferry power station in Cheshire, was sold to Edison Mission Energy. Both stations were then sold on to AEP Energy Services Ltd (American Electric Power) in 2001, before both were sold again to SSE plc in July 2004 for £136 million.[9]

In 2005 SSE took the decision to fit Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) to the plant, installing equipment to scrub half of Ferrybridge's output; the decision was required to partially meet the specifications of the Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD);[38] in 2008 the boilers were fitted with Boosted Over Fire Air in order to reduce the NOx emissions.[39] In 2009 FGD was commissioned on Units 3 and 4.[40][41] The installation of FGD allowed SSE sign a 5-year agreement with UK Coal for 3.5 million tonnes of higher sulphur coal.[42]

In December 2013 SSE announced that Ferrybridge would opt out from (not comply with) the EU Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU); requiring the plant to close by the end of 2023, or after 17,500 hours of operation after 1 January 2016.[43][44]

The units without FGD (1 and 2) were closed on 28 March 2014 under the LCPD.[40][45]

On 31 July 2014 a serious fire broke out in Ferrybridge Unit C. The fire was understood to have started in the fourth generating unit, with the no.3 unit also affected. Neither unit was operational at the time of the fire due to maintenance.[46] Initial expectations were that unit 3 would be operational by November 2014, but unit 4 would not be operational before April 2015.[47] Since the fire was FGD absorber on Unit 4 after work by site team and contractors Unit 3 returned to service on 29 October 2014 and Unit 4 RTS on 15 December 2014 however without its FGD could only run by burning very low sulphur coal and in tandem with Unit 3. The very low Sulphur coal ran out in March 2015 and as no further low sulphur coal was purchased the unit had to shut down March 2015 and never ran again. On 19 May 2015 SSE announced that the station would be closed by 31 March 2016, without Unit 4 reopening. The stated reasons were "irreparable damage" caused by the prior fire, and that the station was now a loss-making operation, predicted to lose £100 million over the next five years.[48][49]

Ferrybridge 'C' Fire – 31 July 2014

At its height some 75 firefighters tackled 100 ft (30m) high flames, after the blaze broke out at about 14:00 BST.[50] A plant used to remove sulfur dioxide from gases produced from the power station caught fire. The black smoke coming from the coal-fired power station led to problems on nearby roads, including the M62, with drivers and householders advised to keep windows shut. No injuries were recorded as the site was quiet due to the summer shutdown. The fire resulted in a partial collapse of the structure.

Closure 2016

Ferrybridge C electricity generation was ended at around midday on 23 March 2016. With SSE stating that the official date of closure is 31 March 2016.[51]

Demolition of cooling towers

Cooling Tower Six stood 114 metres (374 ft) high and was demolished with explosives on 28 July 2019.[52]

This was first stage of demolition at the site.[53][54]

A further four cooling towers were demolished on 13 October 2019, leaving three remaining cooling towers still standing.[55]

Ferrybridge Multifuel (2011–present)

On 31 October 2011 SSE was granted Section 36 planning permission to construct a 68 MW Multifuel plant at its Ferrybridge C Power Station site.[56] The 68 MW plant was designed to burn mixed fuel including biomass, fuel from waste and waste wood. The plant became operational during 2015.[57][2]

In late 2013 consultations began for a second multifuel plant "Ferrybridge Multifuel 2" (FM2). The plant was initially specified to be similar in scale to the first plant, and to have a capacity of up to 90 MW.[58][59]

Ferrybridge Carbon Capture Plant

On 30 November 2011, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, officially opened a carbon capture pilot plant at Ferrybridge Power Station. The carbon capture plant was constructed in partnership with Doosan Power Systems, Vattenfall and the Technology Strategy Board.[60][61] The plant had a capacity of 100 tonnes of CO2 per day, equivalent to 0.005 GW of power.[62] The capture method used amine chemistry[63][64] (see Amine gas treating). The CO2 was not stored, because the pilot plant was designed only to test the carbon capture element of the carbon capture and storage process. At the time of construction it was the largest carbon capture plant in the UK.[65]

gollark: *me dislikes mostly contextless statements*
gollark: What is?
gollark: I should make it show how many eggs are in.
gollark: ?
gollark: `8UM**` (last two chars gone) right?

See also

Notes
  1. Multifuel Energy is a joint venture between SSE and Wheelabrator Technologies.[3]

References
  1. "Building Recording of Barge Unloader and Coal Handling Plant at Ferrybridge". Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  2. "Ferrybridge Multifuel 1". Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  3. "Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 (FM1) Project". Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  4. "SSE to close Ferrybridge coal plant". BBC Business News. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  5. "Ferrybridge cooling tower demolished". BBC News. 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  6. "Ferrybridge Power Station: Live updates as four more cooling towers are demolished". Wakefield Express. 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  7. Wilson, Charles (29 March 1926). "ELECTRICITY (SUPPLY) BILL". Hansard.
  8. The Engineer, 28 October 1927, p.489, col.2
  9. Norfolk, Michael. "Industry in Knottingley and Ferrybridge". Knottingley and Ferrybridge online. Ferrybridge 'C' Power Station. Archived from the original on 1 January 2006.
  10. The Engineer, 28 October 1927, p.489, col.3 & Fig.3
  11. The Engineer, 4 November 1927, p.503, col.3, Fig. 6
  12. The Engineer, 28 October 1927, p.489, col.3; p.490, col.1
  13. The Engineer, 4 November 1927, p.504, cols. 2,3
  14. The Engineer, 4 November 1927, p.504, col.3
  15. The Engineer, 11 November 1927, p.532, col. 1
  16. The Engineer, 4 November 1927, p.504, Fig. 8
  17. GEGB Annual report and accounts, various years
  18. Electricity Commission, Generation of Electricity in Great Britain year ended 31st December 1946. London: HMSO, 1947.
  19. Mr. Redmond (16 January 1984). "Coal-fired Power Stations". Hansard.
  20. CEGB Statistical Yearbooks 1964 1965, 1966, 1972, 1982. London: CEGB. 1966. p. 20.
  21. "Table 3.7 – Generation Disconnections since 1991". National Grid. 2003. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
  22. All the right credentials. www.newsteelconstruction.com. 15. April 2007. pp. 25–27. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  23. "Ferrybridge C Power Station – Through the decades (1966–2016)". Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  24. Clarke, Jonathan (2013). High merit: existing English post-war coal and oil-fired power stations in context. London: Historic England. p. 15.
  25. Price, David N. (1994). Neil Schlager (ed.). When Technology Fails: significant technological disasters, accidents, and failures of the twentieth century. Gale Research. pp. 267–270. ISBN 0-8103-8908-8.
  26. Moore, Tony; Lakha, Raj (20 November 2006). Tolley's Handbook of Disaster and Emergency Management, Third Edition: Principles and Practice (3rd ed. (Hardcover) ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-7506-6990-0.
  27. Haigh, Maurice (3 March 1966). "KNOTTINGLEY IN 1966". Pontefract & Castleford Express. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  28. MacLeay, Iain; Harris, Kevin; Annut, Anwar (2012). Digest of United Kingdom energy statistics 2012 (PDF). Department of Energy and Climate Change. Table 5.11, p.151. ISBN 9780115155284.
  29. "Ferrybridge Power Station 1917 - 2017". Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  30. Handbook of Electricity Supply Statistics 1989. London: The Electricity Council. 1990. p. 4. ISBN 085188122X.
  31. "Ferrybridge C gas turbines". Power stations of the UK. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  32. Modern Railways October 1966 p. 521 'The NER prepares for big three-station coal feed'
  33. "Case study – Hargreaves Industrial services" (PDF). www.hargreavesservices.co.uk. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  34. Jacobs, Gerald (1988). Eastern and Anglia Regions Track Diagrams. Exeter: Quail. pp. 18A. ISBN 0900609559.
  35. Brailsford, Martyn (2016). Railway Track Diagrams Eastern. Frome: Trackmaps. pp. 40A. ISBN 9780954986681.
  36. Modern Railways January 1967 p. 46
  37. "Closure of UK coal-fired generating plant raises questions". Coal International. 246 (3): 113. May 1998.
  38. "SSE to fit FGD on Ferrybridge". ICIS Heren. 16 November 2005. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  39. "Ferrybridge CCPilot 100+ Power Station, United Kingdom". www.power-technology.com. Retrieved 29 October 2013. Ferrybridge C power station details [..] The boilers were equipped with boosted-over-fire-air technology in 2008 to reduce NOx emissions
  40. "Ferrybridge power station". SSE. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013.
  41. "Scottish and Southern Energy plc – Financial report for the six months to 30 September 2009" (PDF). SSE. 11 November 2009. pp. 5, 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014. The removal, in January and February 2009, of the restrictions on running hours at Fiddler’s Ferry and Ferrybridge power stations which applied during 2008, following the installation of flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) equipment [...] Investment in 2009/10 [..] During that time, SSE [..] completed the installation of flue gas desulphurisation equipment at Fiddler’s Ferry and Ferrybridge power stations
  42. "Agreement with UK Coal plc". SSE. 27 April 2009. Archived from the original on 30 October 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  43. "Future operation of thermal generation sites". SSE. 20 December 2013. Archived from the original on 22 December 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  44. Macalister, Terry (20 December 2013). "SSE to close two coal-fired power stations". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  45. "Ferrybridge C". SSE. Project Information. Archived from the original on 4 July 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014. Unit One (490 MW) and Unit Two (490 MW) at Ferrybridge power station were opted out of the Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD), and turned off once they used up their allowed 20,000 operating hours at the end of March 2014.
  46. "Firefighters tackle blaze at UK Ferrybridge power plant". uk.reuters.com. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  47. "Fire at Ferrybridge – 18.30 update" (press release). SSE. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  48. "BREAKING: Ferrybridge Power Station To Close In 2016". The Scaffolding Magazine. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  49. "SSE ANNOUNCES CLOSURE OF FERRYBRIDGE POWER STATION". SSE. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  50. "Power station fire damages tower". BBC News. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  51. "Ferrybridge C coal-fired power station closes after 50 years". BBC News. BBC. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  52. "In pictures: Thousands watch as Ferrybridge Power Station demolition begins". Wakefield Express. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  53. "Tower demolished at Ferrybridge Power Station". BBC News. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  54. "Demolition begins at Ferrybridge power station as first cooling tower brought down". ITV News. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  55. "Ferrybridge Power Station: Live updates as four more cooling towers are demolished". Wakefield Express. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  56. "(Decision letter) – Application for consent to construct and operate a multi-fuel generating station at Ferrybridge 'C' power station" (PDF). Department of Energy and Climate Change. 31 October 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  57. "New multi-fuel facility at Ferrybridge to create jobs". BBC News – Leeds and West Yorkshire. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  58. "Consultation begins for second multifuel power station at Ferrybridge". Goole Courier. 29 October 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  59. "Ferrybridge Multifuel 2 (FM2) Power Station". The Planning Inspectorate. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  60. "SSE opens carbon capture plant". Stock Market Wire. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  61. "Chris Huhne Opens UK's First Carbon Capture Plant" (Press Release). Department of Energy and Climate Change. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  62. "UK'S FIRST CARBON CAPTURE PLANT OPENS AT FERRYBRIDGE POWER STATION". www.doosanpowersystems.com. 30 November 2011. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  63. "Ferrybridge CCPilot100+ post-combustion carbon capture" (PDF). Doosan Power Systems. February 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  64. "£20 million carbon capture pilot plant to receive government support" (PDF). Technology Strategy Board. 17 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  65. "Largest carbon capture plant in UK opens in Yorkshire". The Guardian. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2014.

Literature
  • Ferrybridge A
    • "The Ferrybridge Station of the Yorkshire Electric Power Company", The Engineer, vol. 144, In three parts, via www.gracesguide.co.uk
    • No.1 (PDF), 28 October 1927, pp. 489–490, illus. p.488
    • No.2 (PDF), 4 November 1927, pp. 503–506
    • No.3 (PDF), 11 November 1927, pp. 532–533
  • Ferrybridge B
    • Ferrybridge B 1957–1992: The Life of a Power Station, Powergen, 1992
    • FERRYBRIDGE B POWER STATION, CEGB, 1960
  • Ferrybridge C
    • Report of the Committee of Inquiry Into Collapse of Cooling Towers at Ferrybridge, Monday 1 November, 1965, CEGB, 1966
Preceded by
Blyth Power Station		 Largest Power Station in the UK
1966–1968		 Succeeded by
Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station
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