| Uskmouth power stations | |
|---|---|
 Uskmouth B Power Station Viewed from the south east, September 2007 | |
 | |
| Country | Wales,United Kingdom |
| Location | Newport |
| Coordinates | 51°32′57″N2°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 |
|
| 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 |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
TheUskmouth power stations (also known as theFifoots Point power stations) refers to a series of twocoal-fired power stations at the mouth of theRiver Usk in the south-east ofNewport,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 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 kVturbo-alternators, these were supplied with steam at 62.1 bar and 482 °C.[5] The 12Babcock 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]
| 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 catastrophicoverspeed 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 228megawatts.[9] The station was demolished in 2002.[10]
Uskmouth B power station (orUskmouth 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 ofNewport.[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 highestthermal 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 theNational 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]
| 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 theCentral Electricity Generating Board, the station's operations were handed over toNational Power withprivatisation in 1990. The station was then closed in 1995.[15] But in 1998, it was purchased byAES.[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]
The station was one of the cleanest coal-fired power stations in theUnited Kingdom,[19][20][21] and was fitted withflue-gas desulphurisation equipment and lowNOx burners. It also burntbiomass, as well as coal, for its emissions to be considered closer to beingcarbon neutral.[13] The station did not take water from or dump waste water into the River Usk. It instead usedsecondary treated sewage water in its cooling system.[22]
The station employed 90 people.[11] It was awardedRoSPA 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 theNewport Wetlands Reserve, and sponsor WelshswimmerDavid Davies and theNewport 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 ofbiomass 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 abattery 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]
An 832 MWcombined cycle power plant running onnatural gas, known as Severn Power Station, was built on the site of Uskmouth A bySiemens. It comprises twogas turbines and twosteam 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 (nowØrsted), 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]
In 2006, the station was used as a location for two episodes ofDoctor Who. In the episodes "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel", the station was used as the setting for theCybermen 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]
Power Station Turbine Overspeed failure 1958
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