Uskmouth power stations

Series of two coal-fired power stations south-east of Newport, Wales

Uskmouth power stations

Uskmouth B Power Station
Viewed from the south east, September 2007

Country| Wales, United Kingdom
Location| Newport
Coordinates| 51°32′57″N 2°58′14″W﻿ / ﻿51.549071°N 2.970539°W﻿ / 51.549071; -2.970539
Status| A station: Demolished
B station: Decommissioned
Construction began| A station: 1948
B station: 1957
Commission date| A station: 1952
B station: 1959
Decommission date| A station: 1981
B station: by 2024
Operators|

* British Electricity Authority
(1952–1955)
Central Electricity Authority
(1955–1958)
* Central Electricity Generating Board
(1958–1990)
* National Power
(1990–1998)
* AES
(1998–2003)
* Welsh Power
(2004–2009)
* Scottish and Southern Energy
(2009–2015)
* SIMEC Group
(2015–present)

Thermal power station
Primary fuel| Coal
Tertiary fuel| Biomass
Chimneys| A station: 2
B station: 1
Cooling towers| None
Cooling source| Sea water
Power generation
Units operational| A station: 4 × 60 MW
B station: 3 × 110 MW
Nameplate capacity| A station: 228 MW
B station: 363 MW
External links
Website| www.sse.com/SSEInternet/index.aspx?rightColHeader=22&id=21202
Commons| Related media on Commons

[edit on Wikidata]

The Uskmouth power stations (also known as the Fifoots Point power stations) refers to a series of two coal-fired power stations at the mouth of the River Usk in the south-east of Newport, Wales.

The first of the two stations, Uskmouth A power station, was built in the 1940s and demolished in 2002. The second station, Uskmouth B power station, was built in the 1950s and as of 2023 has been decommissioned and mothballed.[1][2]

## Uskmouth A

[edit]

Uskmouth A power station was authorised in 1947, and building started in April 1948. The first generating set was commissioned in December 1952, followed by other sets in September 1953, March 1954, September 1954, June 1956 and finally December 1956 for a set scrapped in January 1956.[3][4] It comprised four Fraser and Chalmers / GEC 60 MW hydrogen cooled 11.8 kV turbo-alternators, these were supplied with steam at 62.1 bar and 482 °C.[5] The 12 Babcock and Wilcox pulverised fuel boilers were capable of delivering 320.0 kg/s of steam.

The generating capacity and output of the station was as follows.[6][4][5][7]

Uskmouth A generating capacity and output  Year  | Capacity MW  | Electricity supplied GWh

|
|

1954  | 168  | 618.239
1955  | 228  | 1276.305
1956  | 228  | 1409.361
1957  | 342  | 1575.815
1958  | 342  | 2149.267
1961  | 360  | 1489.1
1962  | 360  | 1241.6
1963  | 360  | 1257.1
1967  | 360  | 1138.711
1971  | 360  | 887.514
1979  | 240  | 148.250
1981  | 228  | 19.802

On 18 January 1956, the No. 5 60-MW generator, a conventional steam turbine with a low pressure rotor driving a hydrogen cooled generator, suffered a catastrophic overspeed event. In the resulting explosion, two workers were killed and nine injured, and the turbine and generator were completely destroyed. Wreckage from the blast was propelled through the walls of the building and thrown as far as several hundred yards. Remarkably, the remaining four generator sets, which operating under full loads, experienced no interruption in operation.[8]

The A station was closed on 26 October 1981 with a generating capacity of 228 megawatts.[9] The station was demolished in 2002.[10]

## Uskmouth B

[edit]

Uskmouth B power station (or Uskmouth Power as it is now known) was authorised in May 1957 and built in 1959.[11] It had a generating capacity of 363 MW, which is enough to power 360,000 homes, or the surrounding area of Newport.[12][13] The electricity was provided by three 110 MW generating sets.[12] Uskmouth B was one of the CEGB’s twenty steam power stations with the highest thermal efficiency at the time; in 1963–4 the thermal efficiency was 32.15 per cent, 32.72 per cent in 1964–5, and 32.89 per cent in 1965–6.[14] The pulverised fuel boilers were capable of delivering 324.0 kg/s of steam at 103.4 bar and 538 °C. It was situated in an essential position for the National Grid, as there are very few power stations situated in the south of Wales.[13] The annual electricity output of Uskmouth B was:[14][7]

Electricity output of Uskmouth B  Year  | 1960–1  | 1961–2  | 1962–3  | 1963–4  | 1964–5  | 1965–6  | 1966–7  | 1971–2  | 1978–9  | 1980–1  | 1981–2

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Electricity supplied, GWh  | 9.766  | 1006.7  | 1527.2  | 1,665  | 1,890  | 1,649  | 1,666  | 1,715  | 960.2  | 979.6  | 1,081

Initially operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board, the station's operations were handed over to National Power with privatisation in 1990. The station was then closed in 1995.[15] But in 1998, it was purchased by AES.[16] The station was given a £120 million refurbishment to bring it up to date with legislative requirements. New environmental equipment was installed and it was given a refurbishment which is thought to have extended the station's life by 25 years.[13] The station's generating capacity was also increased to 393 MW.[16] In 2001 the work was completed and the station was reopened. However, only a year later the plant passed into receivership, but had a brief period of operating in the winter between 2003 and 2004. In June 2004 the station was put back into full operation, when it was bought by Welsh Power, who were then known as Carron Energy.[3] Welsh Power sold it to SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc) in 2009 for £27m.[17] In April 2013 one of the three remaining blocks was closed, leaving the power station with a remaining generation capacity of 260 MW.[18]

View of Severn (left) and Uskmouth (right) power stations from Newport Wetlands Reserve

The station was one of the cleanest coal-fired power stations in the United Kingdom,[19][20][21] and was fitted with flue-gas desulphurisation equipment and low NOx burners. It also burnt biomass, as well as coal, for its emissions to be considered closer to being carbon neutral.[13] The station did not take water from or dump waste water into the River Usk. It instead used secondary treated sewage water in its cooling system.[22]

The station employed 90 people.[11] It was awarded RoSPA Gold Award for Occupational Health and Safety for its efforts to ensure station safety. The station's owners participated in many local community projects – they donated land to the Newport Wetlands Reserve, and sponsor Welsh swimmer David Davies and the Newport Gwent Dragons.[13]

The station was earmarked for closure in 2014 and subsequently mothballed.[23] However, in 2015, plans were announced to instead convert the station to run fully on pellets of biomass and waste plastic, as part of a scheme to regenerate the area and create hundreds of jobs.[24] These plans then took priority and as a result, Uskmouth saw very infrequent use as a coal plant; with April 2017 being the last occasion.[25][26]

In 2017, Simec Atlantis Energy joined a partnership to undertake this transformation by 2020.[27] In 2019, it was reported that the plant would be running on 50% pellets of plastic and 50% pellets of cardboard and paper by 2021 and was expected to operate for 20 years.[28] However, in April 2022, Simec Atlantis Energy announced it was abandoning the waste-to-energy conversion project,[29][1] following opposition from environmental groups[2] and the call in of the conversion application by the Welsh Government.[30]

In December 2023, the site's operator Simec Uskmouth Power Ltd obtained planning consent to demolish the station's two banks of cooling towers, with the demolition expected to be completed by May 2024.[31]

In January 2024, Simec was granted planning permission to construct a battery energy storage system on the site of the to-be-demolished cooling towers. Media reporting of this development also confirmed that Uskmouth B power station was decommissioned as of that date.[32]

## Severn Power Station

[edit]

An 832 MW combined cycle power plant running on natural gas, known as Severn Power Station, was built on the site of Uskmouth A by Siemens. It comprises two gas turbines and two steam turbines, each operating on a single shaft, and entered commercial operations in November 2010. It was initially reported that it would cost £400 million to build and create 650 construction jobs.[10]

Originally owned and operated by the Danish company DONG Energy (now Ørsted), the station was acquired in December 2013 by MPF Holdings, which later changed its name to Calon Energy.[33] The station was put into a 'dormant state' in August 2020 following Calon Energy entering administration.[34]

## Uses in culture

[edit]

In 2006, the station was used as a location for two episodes of Doctor Who. In the episodes "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel", the station was used as the setting for the Cybermen Factory.[35] It was then used again for the 2011 Christmas special "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" as spaceship corridors, filmed on 20 September 2011.[36] In 2014, the station was once again used for two episodes "Into the Dalek" and "Time Heist".[37][38]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Uskmouth Conversion Project". Uskmouth Sustainable Energy Park. Simec Atlantis Energy. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
2. ^ a b Hughes, Marcus (23 February 2021). "Climate activists claim Uskmouth power station plan will emit 1,550,000 tonnes of carbon every year". WalesOnline. Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
3. ^ a b "The history of power generation at Uskmouth". Welsh Power. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
4. ^ a b Garrett, Frederick C., ed. (1959). Garcke's Manual of Electricity Supply vol. 56. London: Electrical Press. pp. A-103, A-137.
5. ^ a b CEGB Statistical Yearbook, 1981, CEGB, London.
6. ^ CEGB (1972). CEGB Statistical Yearbook 1972. London: CEGB. p. 11.
7. ^ a b CEGB, Annual report and accounts, 1961, 1962 & 1963
8. ^ Lindley, A.L.G.; Brown, F.H.S. (1958). "Failure of a 60-MW Steam Turbo-Generator at Uskmouth Power Station". Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 172 (1): 627–653\. doi:10.1243/PIME_PROC_1958_172_050_02. Retrieved 7 September 2023.627-653&rft.date=1958&rft_id=info:doi/10.1243/PIME_PROC_1958_172_050_02&rft.aulast=Lindley&rft.aufirst=A.L.G.&rft.au=Brown,+F.H.S.&rft_id=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1243/PIME_PROC_1958_172_050_02?journalCode=pmea&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Uskmouth+power+stations" class="Z3988">
9. ^ Mr. Redmond (16 January 1984). "Coal-fired Power Stations". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 1 September 2009.
10. ^ a b "£400m power station bid approved" (STM). BBC News. 21 August 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
11. ^ a b Blake, Aled (19 July 2005). "£400m power station may create 645 jobs". Wales Online. Western Mail. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
12. ^ a b "SALE OF POWER STATION BY THE RUTLAND FUND" (PDF). Lexicon Partners. 25 April 2006. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
13. ^ a b c d e "Welcome to Uskmouth Power". Welsh Power. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
14. ^ a b CEGB (1966). CEGB Statistical Yearbooks 1964, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1982. London: CEGB. pp. 26, 26, 20.
15. ^ "Generation disconnections since 1991". National Grid. 2003. Archived from the original on 8 May 2003. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
16. ^ a b "Rotork actuators in power station refurbishment". Engineering Talk. 18 October 2000. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
17. ^ "Acquisition of Uskmouth power station". Scottish and Southern Energy. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
18. ^ "Uskmouth power station closure" (PDF). Scottish and Southern Energy. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
19. ^ "Steelmaker's efforts to improve environmental impact sees CO2 levels halved since the 1970s". Wales Online. 8 December 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
20. ^ "Veolia Water Industrial Outsourcing has signed a 10-year outsourcing contract with Uskmouth Power". Veolia Water. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
21. ^ "Clean Coal Technology". UK Parliament Publications and Records. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
22. ^ "Water". Welsh Power. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
23. ^ "Coal-fired power station at Uskmouth to shut". BBC News. 9 May 2014.
24. ^ Barry, Sion (25 June 2015). "Uskmouth Power Station reopens in a move securing 40 jobs as owners confirm ambitious energy hub plans". Wales Online. Media Wales.
25. ^ Evans, Simon (10 February 2016). "Countdown to 2025: Tracking the UK coal phase out". Carbon Brief.
26. ^ Rose, Alice (3 February 2018). "Uskmouth Power Station conversion will lead to hundreds of new jobs". South Wales Argus.
27. ^ "SIMEC Atlantis Energy surges following Uskmouth power project update". Proactive Investors. 5 November 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
28. ^ "Power move: the coal-fired plant to be fuelled by plastic waste". Positive News. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
29. ^ "Uskmouth conversion to burn waste abandoned; battery planned for site". newpower.info. 28 April 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
30. ^ Gill, Emily (9 February 2021). "Why Newport Council has been 'barred' from Uskmouth Power Station decision". WalesOnline. Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
31. ^ "Demolition of cooling towers at Uskmouth Power Station can go ahead". South Wales Argus. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
32. ^ Thomas, Nicholas (13 January 2024). "Battery plant to open on site of Uskmouth B Power Station". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
33. ^ "Welcome to Severn Power Station". Calon Energy. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
34. ^ "Calon Energy's administrators put two power plants in 'dormant state'". BBC News. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
35. ^ "Uskmouth Power Station". Doctor Who - The Locations Guide. Chuck Foster, News In Time Space Ltd. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
36. ^ "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe - The Fourth Dimension". BBC. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
37. ^ "Into the Dalek: Fact File". Doctor Who. BBC One. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
38. ^ "Time Heist: The Fact File". Doctor Who. BBC One. Retrieved 21 September 2014.

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