| Fawley Power Station | |
|---|---|
 Fawley Power Station in 2012 | |
 | |
| Country | England |
| Location | Hampshire,South East England |
| Coordinates | 50°49′00″N1°19′44″W / 50.816696°N 1.328881°W /50.816696; -1.328881 |
| Construction began | 1965 |
| Commission date | 6 May 1971[1] |
| Decommission date | 31 March 2013[2] |
| Owners | Central Electricity Generating Board (1971–1990) RWE npower (1990–2013) |
| Operators | Central Electricity Generating Board (1971–1990) RWE npower (1990–2013) |
| Thermal power station | |
| Primary fuel | Oil-fired |
| Secondary fuel | Fuel oil for auxiliary gas turbines |
| Chimneys | 1 (198 m) |
| Cooling towers | None |
| Cooling source | Sea water |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 4 × 500 MW |
| Annual net output | 5271.594 GWh (Year 1980/81) |
grid referenceSU473021 | |
Fawley Power Station was anoil-fired power station located on the western side ofSouthampton Water, between the villages ofFawley andCalshot inHampshire, England. Its 198-metre (650 ft)chimney was a prominent (and navigationally useful) landmark.
The station, which in its final years was owned and operated byNpower, was oil-fired, powered byheavy fuel oil. Pipelines connected the station to the nearbyFawley oil refinery. There were two 10-inch (25 cm) diameter, 3.2-kilometre (2.0 mi) long, pipelines which discharged into storage tanks with a capacity of 24,000 tonnes.[3] Due to oil being more expensive than other fuels such as coal and natural gas, Fawley did not operate continuously, but came on line at times of high demand.
It was also connected to theNational Grid with circuits going toNursling and atunnel underSouthampton Water to Chilling then toLovedean with a localsubstation at Botley Wood.
A dock was included in the construction, to allow for the delivery of oil by sea; however, after one ship delivery (essentially a trial) this facility remained disused.
Fawley was one of theHinton Heavies, and was built byMitchell Construction Architect Colin Morse RIBA[4] for theCEGB between 1965[5] and 1969.[6] It was commissioned in 1971 as a 2,000-megawatt (MW) power station, with four 500 MW generating units, each consisting of a boiler supplying steam to a turbine that powers an associated generator.
The boilers were capable of delivering 1,788.0 kg/s of steam at 158.6 bar and 538 °C.[7] The cooling pumps were Britain's largest with a flow of 210,000 GPM. One was driven by an experimental super-conducting electric motor.
In 1978/79 Fawley was presented with the Hinton Cup, theCEGB's"good house keeping trophy". The award was commissioned bySir Christopher Hinton, the first chairman of the C.E.G.B. It was the first time that a C.E.G.B region (South West) had won both the Hinton Trophy and Hinton Cup. The cup going to the Solent transmission district.[8]
The operating data for the main plant is shown in the table:[9]
| Year | Net capability, MW | Electricity supplied, GWh | Load as percent of capability, % | Thermal efficiency, % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 2,000 | 7,059.640 | 48.5 | 34.38 |
| 1979 | 1,932 | 10,047.995 | 59.4 | 35.53 |
| 1981 | 1,932 | 5,271.594 | 31.1 | 34.24 |
| 1982 | 1,932 | 4,723.965 | 27.9 | 36.87 |
| 1984 | 1,932 | 2,007.425 | 11.8 | 34.27 |
| 1985 | 1,932 | 12,980.721 | 76.7 | 37.87 |
| 1986 | 1,932 | 2,110.406 | 12.5 | 35.18 |
| 1987 | 1,932 | 4,234.020 | 25.0 | 36.223 |
The electricity output, in GWh, is shown graphically:
 | This graph was using thelegacy Graph extension, which is no longer supported. It needs to be converted to thenew Chart extension. |
The high output in 1984/5 as associated with the1984/5 Miners' Strike, and the shortage of coal forcoal-fired power stations. There were also 4 × 17.5 MW auxiliary gas turbine generators on the Fawley site giving a total output of 70 MW, these machines had been commissioned in September 1969.[7][10]
Two units were mothballed in 1995,[11] leaving the station with a capacity of only 1,000 MW.
CEGB plans for a coal-fired Fawley B station were not pursued following privatisation of the industry in the late 1980s.
On 18 September 2012, RWE npower announced they would be shutting down Fawley power station by the end of March 2013, due to the EULarge Combustion Plant Directive.[12] The power station was duly shut on 31 March 2013 after more than 40 years in operation.[13][2]
When the plant was operating, the screens on the plant's cooling water lines were found to kill as many as 50,000 fish a week.[14] By the 1980s, intermittent plant operation meant that the annual kill total was around 200,000.[14] While this may have resulted in reduced numbers of some species such asbass, others such assand smelt seemed unaffected.[14]
The unique round structure housing the control room for the station was used to represent the "World Control Center" building depicted in the 1975 filmRollerball.[15]
Some scenes for the 2015 filmMission: Impossible – Rogue Nation were filmed on location at Fawley power station.[16]
The second series of British medical comedyGreen Wing featured a scene that was shot in the control room.
TheRed Dwarf series 11 episode "Give and Take" had a scene that was filmed inside the control room.[17]
The 2017Channel 4 programmeSpies filmed at the station and inside the control room.
The final episodeHarvest of series 4 ofEndeavour used the power station and control room.
The exterior of the power station was used as a filming location for theStar Wars filmSolo: A Star Wars Story.[18]
The location was used as the extraction point for the 2018 series ofCelebrity Hunted. The successful fugitives escaped by speedboat, exiting into Southampton Water.
In 2017 it was announced that the power station site would be turned into a "new town" consisting of 1,500 residential units, commercial and civic space, and a new school. The project went on display to the public on 27 September 2017.[19][20] The development has been referred to as Fawley Waterside, and was designed byLéon Krier,Ben Pentreath, and Kim Wilkie.[21]New Forest District Council approved the scheme in July 2020.[22] However, estate owner Aldred Drummond stepped down as CEO of the Fawley Waterside company in 2023, and the project was shelved in 2024.[23]
In June 2019, it was announced that the station would be demolished in several stages.[24] The first stage took place on 3 October 2019, with a controlled explosion of the turbine hall.[25][26] The southern section of the boiler house was demolished on 19 November 2020.[27] Demolition continued on 29 July 2021 with a further controlled explosion of the stations auxiliary buildings.[28] The chimney and remaining southern end of the turbine hall were demolished simultaneously at 7am on 31 October 2021.[29] In February 2023, demolition work began on the control building.[30]
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