Blyth Power Station
Encyclopedia
Blyth Power Station refers to a pair of now demolished coal-fired power stations
, which were located on the Northumberland coast
in North East England
. The two stations were built alongside each other on a site near Cambois
in Northumberland
, on the northern bank of the River Blyth
, between its tidal estuary and the North Sea
. The stations took their name from the town of Blyth
on the opposite bank of the estuary. Blyth A Power Station was built and opened first but had a smaller generating capacity than its sister station, Blyth B Power Station, which was built to its west four years later. The power stations' four large chimneys were a landmark of the Northumberland skyline for over 40 years; the A Station's two chimneys each stood at 140 metres (459.3 ft); the B Station's two chimneys were taller, at 170 metres (557.7 ft) each.
Construction of the B Station began shortly after the A station was completed. The stations were built during a period in which there were great advances in power station technology, and in the scale of production, which led to them having a variety of intermediate generator set sizes along with a mix of design styles. Blyth A had a generating capacity of 480 megawatts (MW) and the B Station 1,250 MW. Their combined capacity of 1,730 MW briefly made Blyth Power Station the largest electricity generation site in England, until Ferrybridge C Power Station
came into full operation in 1966. The stations were capable of generating enough electricity to power 300,000 homes.
The A Station first generated electricity in 1958, a year after the creation of the Central Electricity Generating Board, and the stations operated until 2001. They were operated by the successors of the CEGB, including National Power
, following the privatisation of the UK's
power industry
. After their closure in 2001, the stations were demolished over the course of two years, ending with the demolition of the stations' chimneys on 7 December 2003. As of 2009, the site is still covered in debris from the demolition. RWE Npower have proposed the construction of a clean coal-fired power station
on the site. However, as of November 2009, these plans have been postponed.
and Billingham
, to meet the demand for power quickly. At Blyth, a larger and more efficient plant was planned, consisting of six 100 megawatts (MW) generating units. This increased to six 120 MW units, before increasing again in the final proposal for an A station consisting of four 120 MW units and a B station consisting of two 275 MW units and two 350 MW units. This gave the A and B stations generating capacities of 480 MW and 1,250 MW respectively. The Blyth Power Stations were to be an experiment, using a variety of generating set sizes at a time when engineers were trying to standardise power station plant and layout. Blyth was the first in the UK to use generating sets larger than the then standard 30 MW and 60 MW. The station's location was chosen because of its position within the super grid
, rather than to be near a load centre.
The site chosen for the construction of the power stations was close to the coal mining town of Cambois
. Ordnance Survey
maps as far back as 1860 show that before building work began the land had been used as open farmland
, with fields of varying shapes and sizes.
came into full operation. Blyth B was the first power station in Britain to have 275 MW sets installed. Its two 350 MW sets were an intermediate stage toward the 500 MW standard, so very few of the 350 MW sets were ever commissioned in the UK. Both of the stations were designed by L J Couves & Partners
. They were engineered by Merz & McLellan
and built by the Cleveland Bridge Company
.
, overlaying sandstone
and coal
. The main foundations of the buildings were spread out, giving a load of about 2.3 tonnes (2.3 LT) per square foot.
Each of the stations featured large boiler houses, turbine halls, switch houses, flue gas cleaning plant and a pair of concrete chimneys. Blyth A's chimneys stood at 140 metres (459.3 ft) and Blyth B's chimneys stood at 170 metres (557.7 ft), major landmarks on the South East Northumberland skyline. Each chimney weighed approximately 17000 tonnes (16,731.5 LT). The prominence and large scale of the buildings in the surrounding flat rural area, was the subject of much contemporary architectural debate. Blyth A's turbine hall was 120 metres (393.7 ft) long by 37 metres (121.4 ft) wide, and 26 metres (85.3 ft) high. It was built from a reinforced concrete
frame, clad with brick
work. It housed four 120 MW Metropolitan-Vickers
3,000 rpm turbo generator
s, each connected to a Babcock and Wilcox
boiler
, situated in the boiler house. Each boiler and generator set operated independently, with no connections to other sets. Coal fed into the boilers was pulverised by a Babcock and Wilcox
pulveriser, fed by a coal bunker with a capacity of 2000 tonnes (1,968.4 LT). Each pulveriser was capable of pulverising 15 tonnes (14.8 LT) of coal an hour, sufficient to keep its associated boiler at full output. The boiler house was 110 metres (360.9 ft) long by 28 metres (91.9 ft) wide and 48 metres (157.5 ft) high. It was built from a steel frame
with aluminium cladding
. The A station's design was an unusual mix of styles; the brick construction of the turbine hall was a style used more often in the 1950s, while the aluminium and glass cladding boiler house was a construction style used more in the 1960s. The A Station housed two control room
s, each of which served two generating sets and contained the controls to operate boilers, turbo generators and auxiliary plant. The A Station's switchgear was provided by A. Reyrolle & Company
.
Blyth B's turbine hall was 206 metres (675.9 ft) long by 51 metres (167.3 ft) wide and 30 metres (98.4 ft) high. It housed two 275 MW and two 350 MW English Electric
3,000 rpm turbo generator
s, each connected to a Clarke Chapman & Co
boiler
, situated in the boiler house. The boiler house was 206 metres (675.9 ft) long by 32 metres (105 ft) wide and 52 metres (170.6 ft) high. The coal fed into the boilers was pulverised by a Babcock and Wilcox
pulveriser. Each pulveriser was capable of pulverising 40 tonnes (39.4 LT) of coal an hour, and two pulverisers fed each boiler. Both the turbine hall and boiler house were built from a steel frame
, clad with aluminium
and glazing
. The roofs of the B Station's buildings were made from a lightweight aluminium decking. The B Station's switchgear was provided by A. Reyrolle & Company
and by M&C Switchgear. The volume of Blyth B's main buildings represented 0.76 cubic metres (26.8 cu ft)/kW of installed capacity, while Blyth A's building volume represented 0.74 cubic metres (26.1 cu ft)/kW.
and anthracite coal. They consumed 51000 tonnes (50,194.4 LT) of coal per week and had a peak consumption of 70000 tonnes (68,894.2 LT) per week during the winter. They were well positioned to use coal from the Northumberland
and County Durham
coal fields
. All of the coal used in the stations was brought to them via rail transport
from UK coal stocks. Trains delivered coal to the station using the North Blyth Branch of the Blyth and Tyne Railway. The stations' coal handling facility was fitted with a Merry go Round
(MGR) coal delivery system in 1981, after high capacity rapid discharge waggons became the British Rail
standard. This system involved the trains slowly passing over a hopper
and automatically discharging their cargo through doors underneath the train. Because of site space restrictions, a balloon loop
track layout could not be constructed, so instead of being able to move continuously, trains arriving on site had to pull onto a reception track; the locomotive would then uncouple and recouple at the opposite end, before slowly moving over the unloading track hopper and discharging the coal and eventually leaving site. Towards the end of the station's operation, coal was more frequently brought in by road. All coal was delivered to and stored in a large open area to the north of the power stations. This had a tarmac
barrier underneath it to prevent downward contamination. The coal was brought from the storage area to the station using a system of conveyor belt
s, which travelled over the Bedlington-Cambois Road separating the two sites, before being integrated to feed both stations as necessary.
, to create the steam to turn the steam turbine
s and generate electricity. Water used in the power station at Blyth was extracted from the Blyth Harbour tidal basin at the ash dock. Once used in the station, the hot water had to be cooled before it could be discharged. Condensers were used to convert steam from the turbines back into water. The stations' condensers were of twin two-pass design and had a total cooling surface of 70000 square feet (6,503.2 m²). Condensed water was then extracted by two duty pumps. The water then passed through a drains cooler. The cooled waste water was discharged into the sea off Cambois beach below low tide level.
(PFA) and Furnace Bottom Ash
(FBA) were byproducts produced through the burning of coal in the station. Bottom ash was removed from ash hoppers at the bottom of the boilers by high pressure water jets. It then travelled to ash settling ponds via sluiceways. For much of the station's life, the station was served by a series of barge
s, which took the ash to dump 4.8 kilometres (3 mi) out into the North Sea
. Two barge
s provided this service over the years; Sir Fon and MVA. The barges were loaded by silo
s situated at a special dock to the east of the stations. However, dumping in the sea stopped in 1992 when the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships prevented further dumping in the North Sea. From then on FBA was sold to the construction industry, while PFA was either dried for sale, or was disposed of at a licensed landfill
on-site.
by setting the world record for total running hours in a plant of its size, when all four generating units achieved 200,000 running hours. With the privatisation of the UK's electric supply industry in 1990, the station passed into the ownership of National Power
. In 1991, the two 275 MW units at Blyth B (units 5 & 6) were decommissioned on the grounds of economy, despite the station having been modernised in the early 1980s. This decommissioning resulted in 260 job losses.
During the 1990s, the station became one of the UK's least efficient power stations. In 1998, plans were announced to use the station as a test-bed for clean coal technology
, but the plans did not come to fruition. In 1999, then owners Innogy decided to take Blyth A out of operation, while Blyth B began operating only at times of peak demand, because the stations had become surplus to their generating needs. From 1 April 2000 onwards the station was taken out of service for the summer months, because of the low demand for electricity at that time of year. However, staff were retained to maintain the station. Innogy then began looking for a buyer for the station, to decide the site's future. They had been in talks with American based NRG Energy
, over a £410 million purchase of the station, along with the Killingholme Power Station
in North Lincolnshire
. There had also been rumours that a deal had been made to convert the station into a waste-to-energy plant
. However, any plans to save the station fell through and the generation of electricity at the station ceased on 31 January 2001, after 43 years of operating, resulting in the loss of 131 jobs.
At the time of its closure, Blyth Power Station was the oldest coal-fired power station in Britain. The station long outlived its life expectancy of 25 years. The length of time that the station was in use is partly due to its value in the National Grid, as a "charge" near to a major node in the system.
Shortly after its closure, a joint proposal was made by the British Army
and the Ministry of Agriculture
to burn the carcasses of animals slaughtered during the 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis in portable incinerators at the station. The station was proposed because of its high chimneys, but strong opposition from local residents and Members of Parliament
, along with the proximity of over 100,000 people living within 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) of the site, meant that the proposal was quickly rejected.
was removed from hydrogen production plants on site, along with bottled propane
used for welding. The remaining coal in the coal storage area was dispatched to operating power stations in other parts of the country. The landfill site where ash waste from the station was dumped was topsoiled. Asbestos
used in the stations was removed prior to the demolition of the stations' structures.
The stations were demolished between 2001 and 2003. The smaller buildings and structures were first to be demolished. One worker was killed during the demolition work, in May 2001, crushed underneath an electrical connection box which fell from a wall. On the 31 October 2001, the ash silo which stood at the ash dock was toppled using explosives to demolish the stilts the structure stood on. The silo was then dismantled by bulldozers. All of the smaller structures had been removed by July 2002. On 11 July 2002, the A Station's boiler house was demolished. The 61 metres (200.1 ft) high coal conveyor belt was demolished on 6 February 2003. The station's precipitators were demolished on 27 March and 17 April 2003. On 1 May 2003, the B Station's bunker bay building was demolished, and on 22 May 2003, the stations air heater was demolished. A fire started at the station on 17 June 2003, when a bunker caught fire after hot cutting equipment set fire to coke remnants. All of the larger structures had been demolished by July 2003. It was planned for the stations' chimneys to be demolished in October 2003, but that had to be postponed due to the complexity of the demolition. However, at noon on 7 December 2003, the four chimneys, each weighing 17000 tonnes (16,731.5 LT), were demolished using a total of 150 kilograms (330.7 lb) of the industrial explosive Gelemex. The demolition is thought to have been the biggest chimney demolition in 50 years.
in 2002, the site has been owned by RWE Npower
. The only substantial structures remaining are the National Grid and NEDL
substations
. These buildings will continue to remain and there are plans to extend the National Grid substation. The rest of the power station site is unused brownfield land
. The site of the main station buildings is currently covered in crushed concrete, left over from the demolition process. Underground workings, such as tunnels and culverts, also still exist on the site. The coal storage area to the north has been tarmaced and ash settling ponds have been filled with concrete. Some ash mounds are still situated to the east of the site.
on the site. The proposed station would have generated electricity using three 800 MW advanced supercritical steam, high-efficiency coal-fired units, giving the station a total generation capacity of 2,400 MW. This was one of two new coal-fired stations proposed by Npower in the UK. The site was chosen because of its readily available proximity to the national grid, its rail and port links, and its position next to the North Sea, which is useful for both cooling water, and as a potential CO2 storage site, where CO2 could be piped to oil and gas wells, and saline aquifers.
The station would have had an efficiency of 46%, which in comparison to conventional subcritical coal-fired power stations, equates to a reduction in carbon dioxide
(CO2) of 23% per unit of electricity generated. The station would have utilised pollution abatement and gas cleaning systems, including selective catalytic reduction
, to remove nitrogen oxide
, and Flue-gas desulphurisation, to remove sulphur dioxide. The station would also have been able to allow the installation of Carbon Capture and Storage
(CCS) technology, when it becomes technically and commercially viable. There was also a possibility that the station may have co-fired biomass
, and cogenerated
heat as a combined heat and power plant.
Coal was expected to be able to be delivered to the station by rail, as well as by ship to the Port of Blyth. The station's coal storage area would have stored a minimum 45 days worth of coal supply. All of the station's pulverised fuel ash
(PFA) may have been sold to the construction industry, transported to which in dry dust tankers. Unsold PFA and furnace bottom ash
would be taken to a landfill site by road.
Fifteen hundred jobs would have been created during the station's construction, and more than 200 full-time jobs would have been available once the station was operating.
The Environmental Assessment Scoping Report for the proposed station was submitted to the Department of Trade and Industry in 2007, and the application for the development was to be made to the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform once the Environmental Impact Assessment was completed. A contract had already been signed with the Shaw Group to design and engineer the station. If Npower had been granted permission to build the new station, construction work would have begun in 2010, and the station was expected to be fully commissioned by 2014. It would have been one of the most efficient coal-fired power stations of its size in the UK.
Blyth Valley Council
said the proposal did not fit with regeneration plans in the area. Residents living in the area voiced opinions that the land should be redeveloped for other purposes, rather than continue to be used as an industrial site. The MP for Wansbeck
, Denis Murphy
, stated that, although the project would have benefits for the area, he still had concerns. Ronnie Campbell
, the MP for Blyth Valley
, claimed he would welcome the development as long as it did not have an adverse effect on the overall regeneration of the area. On 5 June 2008, Npower reopened the original gatehouse at the entrance to the power station's site, to provide a "drop-in" centre for the public to find out more about the proposed plans.
In August 2009, following a visit to Cambois from Minister of State
for Energy at the Department of Energy and Climate Change
Joan Ruddock
, it was revealed that the government were determined to go ahead with four new coal-fired power stations. She stated that they had no scepticism about CCS technology, with a competition having been started between the big energy companies to create a viable form of the technology, set to end in 2014. However this meant the station may not have been completed until 2020.
Despite this support, RWE announced in November 2009 that they have postponed their plans for the new power station. They are not yet going make a formal planning application for the plant, saying that the time is not right for such a huge investment. Dave Carlton, RWE's project manager, has said that they "see the site as an important one, both for RWE npower and in terms of the UK’s future power generation”, and so RWE npower have retained the site for a possible future power station. Malcolm Reid of People Against New Coal Stations, a group opposed to the power station development, said:
wind turbine factory. The factory would create 700 jobs and up to 1,500 further jobs in the supply chain if built. He has said the site would be perfect for the factory because of its close proximity to NaREC and the site's existing deep dock facilities. The factory is likely to be built either in Blyth or on Humberside
.
Despite the small amount of media usage of the power stations, their four chimneys were still a strong landmark within the south east Northumberland landscape. They could be seen from as far south as 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) away at Callerton, in Newcastle upon Tyne
, and over an 13.2 kilometres (8.2 mi) stretch of coast, from Seaton Sluice
up to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
. This is mostly because the stations were constructed in a largely flat, rural area.
In 1995, the site was considered for scheduling by English Heritage
, because of its national importance as a good example of a late 20th-century power station. It was also important because of its use as a testing ground for various generating sizes, from which came success in the UK's electricity industry. However, by then the station's buildings were in poor condition and it would have been financially difficult to ensure their long term preservation. Instead, it was decided a comprehensive study and photographic record of the station would be commissioned.
Due to the closure of Blyth Power Stations, along with the power stations at Dunston and Stella in the 1980s and 1990s respectively, the northern part of North East England has become heavily dependent upon the National Grid for electrical supply. However, there are still two large power stations at Hartlepool and Wilton
in the south of the region.
Fossil fuel power plant
A fossil-fuel power station is a power station that burns fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum to produce electricity. Central station fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation...
, which were located on the Northumberland coast
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
in North East England
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
. The two stations were built alongside each other on a site near Cambois
Cambois
Cambois is a village in south-east Northumberland, England. It is situated on the north side of the estuary of the River Blyth between Blyth and Ashington on the North Sea coast.-History:According to Paul L...
in Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, on the northern bank of the River Blyth
River Blyth, Northumberland
The River Blyth flows eastwards through southern Northumberland into the North Sea at the town of Blyth. It flows through Plessey Woods Country Park. The River Pont is a tributary....
, between its tidal estuary and the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. The stations took their name from the town of Blyth
Blyth, Northumberland
Blyth is a town and civil parish in southeast Northumberland, England. It lies on the coast, to the south of the River Blyth and is approximately 21 kilometres northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne...
on the opposite bank of the estuary. Blyth A Power Station was built and opened first but had a smaller generating capacity than its sister station, Blyth B Power Station, which was built to its west four years later. The power stations' four large chimneys were a landmark of the Northumberland skyline for over 40 years; the A Station's two chimneys each stood at 140 metres (459.3 ft); the B Station's two chimneys were taller, at 170 metres (557.7 ft) each.
Construction of the B Station began shortly after the A station was completed. The stations were built during a period in which there were great advances in power station technology, and in the scale of production, which led to them having a variety of intermediate generator set sizes along with a mix of design styles. Blyth A had a generating capacity of 480 megawatts (MW) and the B Station 1,250 MW. Their combined capacity of 1,730 MW briefly made Blyth Power Station the largest electricity generation site in England, until Ferrybridge C Power Station
Ferrybridge power station
The Ferrybridge power stations refers to a series of three coal-fired power stations situated on the River Aire in West Yorkshire, England. The first station on the site, Ferrybridge A power station, was constructed in the mid-1920s, and was closed as the second station, Ferrybridge B power...
came into full operation in 1966. The stations were capable of generating enough electricity to power 300,000 homes.
The A Station first generated electricity in 1958, a year after the creation of the Central Electricity Generating Board, and the stations operated until 2001. They were operated by the successors of the CEGB, including National Power
National Power
- History :National Power was formed following the privatisation of the UK electricity market in 1990. In England and Wales the Central Electricity Generating Board, which was responsible for the generation and transmission of electricity was split into three generating companies Powergen, National...
, following the privatisation of the UK's
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
power industry
Electrical power industry
The electric power industry provides the production and delivery of electric energy, often known as power, or electricity, in sufficient quantities to areas that need electricity through a grid connection. The grid distributes electrical energy to customers...
. After their closure in 2001, the stations were demolished over the course of two years, ending with the demolition of the stations' chimneys on 7 December 2003. As of 2009, the site is still covered in debris from the demolition. RWE Npower have proposed the construction of a clean coal-fired power station
Clean coal technology
Clean coal technology is a collection of technologies being developed to reduce the environmental impact of coal energy generation. When coal is used as a fuel source, the gaseous emmissions generated by the thermal decomposition of the coal, include sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon...
on the site. However, as of November 2009, these plans have been postponed.
Background
Following the Second World War the demand for electricity increased in the United Kingdom. In North East England, this led to the construction of two new power stations at Stella, along with the expansion of stations at DunstonDunston Power Station
Dunston Power Station refers to a pair of adjacent coal-fired power stations in the North East of England, now demolished. They were built on the south bank of the River Tyne, in the western outskirts of Dunston in Gateshead. The two stations were built on a site which is now occupied by the...
and Billingham
North Tees Power Station
North Tees Power Station refers to a series of three coal-fired power stations on the River Tees at Billingham in County Durham. Overall, they operated from 1921 until 1983, and the C station, the last on the site, was demolished in 1987...
, to meet the demand for power quickly. At Blyth, a larger and more efficient plant was planned, consisting of six 100 megawatts (MW) generating units. This increased to six 120 MW units, before increasing again in the final proposal for an A station consisting of four 120 MW units and a B station consisting of two 275 MW units and two 350 MW units. This gave the A and B stations generating capacities of 480 MW and 1,250 MW respectively. The Blyth Power Stations were to be an experiment, using a variety of generating set sizes at a time when engineers were trying to standardise power station plant and layout. Blyth was the first in the UK to use generating sets larger than the then standard 30 MW and 60 MW. The station's location was chosen because of its position within the super grid
Super grid
A super grid is a wide area transmission network that makes it possible to trade high volumes of electricity across great distances. It is sometimes also referred to as a "mega grid".-History:...
, rather than to be near a load centre.
The site chosen for the construction of the power stations was close to the coal mining town of Cambois
Cambois
Cambois is a village in south-east Northumberland, England. It is situated on the north side of the estuary of the River Blyth between Blyth and Ashington on the North Sea coast.-History:According to Paul L...
. Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
maps as far back as 1860 show that before building work began the land had been used as open farmland
Arable land
In geography and agriculture, arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops , temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow...
, with fields of varying shapes and sizes.
Construction
Permission for Blyth A Power Station to be built was granted in February 1955, and its construction took place between 1955 and 1960. The station's first unit went into operation in December 1958, and the A Station was fully operational by June 1960. Its four 120 MW sets were the first commissioned in Britain of what became for a time that standardised size. The construction of the B Station began on 4 December 1961. Its first unit was commissioned in December 1962, and the rest of the station was fully operational by September 1966. The station had a total generating capacity of 1,730 MW, the highest of any site in the UK until later in the same year, when Ferrybridge C Power StationFerrybridge power station
The Ferrybridge power stations refers to a series of three coal-fired power stations situated on the River Aire in West Yorkshire, England. The first station on the site, Ferrybridge A power station, was constructed in the mid-1920s, and was closed as the second station, Ferrybridge B power...
came into full operation. Blyth B was the first power station in Britain to have 275 MW sets installed. Its two 350 MW sets were an intermediate stage toward the 500 MW standard, so very few of the 350 MW sets were ever commissioned in the UK. Both of the stations were designed by L J Couves & Partners
L J Couves & Partners
L. J. Couves and Partners were a British architectural firm from Newcastle upon Tyne in England.-History:Between 1924 and 1928, the company worked under the lead architects Burnet, Tait and Lorne on the design of Carliol House, the headquarters of Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Company...
. They were engineered by Merz & McLellan
Merz & McLellan
Merz and McLellan was a leading British electrical engineering consultancy based in Newcastle.-History:The firm was founded by Charles Merz and William McLellan in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1902 when McLellan joined Merz's existing firm established in 1899...
and built by the Cleveland Bridge Company
Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company
The Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company is a renowned bridge building and structural engineering company based in Darlington, England. It has been involved in many major projects including the Victoria Falls Bridge and the Humber Bridge.-History:...
.
Design and specification
The large 98 hectares (242.2 acre) site was separated by Bedlington-Cambois Road, with the stations' main buildings, admin blocks and ash dock to the south of the road, and coal storage area and railway sidings to the north. The ground to the south of this road consisted of a 21 metres (68.9 ft) thick layer of boulder clayBoulder clay
Boulder clay, in geology, is a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and North America...
, overlaying sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
. The main foundations of the buildings were spread out, giving a load of about 2.3 tonnes (2.3 LT) per square foot.
Each of the stations featured large boiler houses, turbine halls, switch houses, flue gas cleaning plant and a pair of concrete chimneys. Blyth A's chimneys stood at 140 metres (459.3 ft) and Blyth B's chimneys stood at 170 metres (557.7 ft), major landmarks on the South East Northumberland skyline. Each chimney weighed approximately 17000 tonnes (16,731.5 LT). The prominence and large scale of the buildings in the surrounding flat rural area, was the subject of much contemporary architectural debate. Blyth A's turbine hall was 120 metres (393.7 ft) long by 37 metres (121.4 ft) wide, and 26 metres (85.3 ft) high. It was built from a reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
frame, clad with brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
work. It housed four 120 MW Metropolitan-Vickers
Metropolitan-Vickers
Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, they were particularly well known for their industrial electrical equipment such as generators, steam...
3,000 rpm turbo generator
Turbo generator
A turbo generator is a turbine directly connected to an electric generator for the generation of electric power. Large steam powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also used by steam powered turbo-electric ships.Smaller turbo-generators with gas turbines...
s, each connected to a Babcock and Wilcox
Babcock and Wilcox
The Babcock & Wilcox Company is a U.S.-based company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and facilities management services to nuclear, renewable, fossil power, industrial and government customers worldwide. B&W's boilers supply more than 300,000 megawatts of installed...
boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
, situated in the boiler house. Each boiler and generator set operated independently, with no connections to other sets. Coal fed into the boilers was pulverised by a Babcock and Wilcox
Babcock and Wilcox
The Babcock & Wilcox Company is a U.S.-based company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and facilities management services to nuclear, renewable, fossil power, industrial and government customers worldwide. B&W's boilers supply more than 300,000 megawatts of installed...
pulveriser, fed by a coal bunker with a capacity of 2000 tonnes (1,968.4 LT). Each pulveriser was capable of pulverising 15 tonnes (14.8 LT) of coal an hour, sufficient to keep its associated boiler at full output. The boiler house was 110 metres (360.9 ft) long by 28 metres (91.9 ft) wide and 48 metres (157.5 ft) high. It was built from a steel frame
Steel frame
Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal -beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame...
with aluminium cladding
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
. The A station's design was an unusual mix of styles; the brick construction of the turbine hall was a style used more often in the 1950s, while the aluminium and glass cladding boiler house was a construction style used more in the 1960s. The A Station housed two control room
Control room
A control room is a room serving as an operations centre where a facility or service can be monitored and controlled. Examples include:*in television production, the master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations, television networks...
s, each of which served two generating sets and contained the controls to operate boilers, turbo generators and auxiliary plant. The A Station's switchgear was provided by A. Reyrolle & Company
A. Reyrolle & Company
A. Reyrolle & Company was a British engineering firm, which for many years was one of the largest employers on Tyneside.-History:The company was founded by Alphonse Constant Reyrolle, a Frenchman, in 1886 at Fitzroy Square in London to produce scientific instruments. He moved the business to...
.
Blyth B's turbine hall was 206 metres (675.9 ft) long by 51 metres (167.3 ft) wide and 30 metres (98.4 ft) high. It housed two 275 MW and two 350 MW English Electric
English Electric
English Electric was a British industrial manufacturer. Founded in 1918, it initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers...
3,000 rpm turbo generator
Turbo generator
A turbo generator is a turbine directly connected to an electric generator for the generation of electric power. Large steam powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also used by steam powered turbo-electric ships.Smaller turbo-generators with gas turbines...
s, each connected to a Clarke Chapman & Co
Clarke Chapman
Clarke Chapman is a British engineering firm based in Gateshead, which was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:The company was founded in 1864 in Gateshead by William Clarke...
boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
, situated in the boiler house. The boiler house was 206 metres (675.9 ft) long by 32 metres (105 ft) wide and 52 metres (170.6 ft) high. The coal fed into the boilers was pulverised by a Babcock and Wilcox
Babcock and Wilcox
The Babcock & Wilcox Company is a U.S.-based company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and facilities management services to nuclear, renewable, fossil power, industrial and government customers worldwide. B&W's boilers supply more than 300,000 megawatts of installed...
pulveriser. Each pulveriser was capable of pulverising 40 tonnes (39.4 LT) of coal an hour, and two pulverisers fed each boiler. Both the turbine hall and boiler house were built from a steel frame
Steel frame
Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal -beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame...
, clad with aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
and glazing
Glazing
Glazing, which derives from the Middle English for 'glass', is a part of a wall or window, made of glass. Glazing also describes the work done by a professional "glazier"...
. The roofs of the B Station's buildings were made from a lightweight aluminium decking. The B Station's switchgear was provided by A. Reyrolle & Company
A. Reyrolle & Company
A. Reyrolle & Company was a British engineering firm, which for many years was one of the largest employers on Tyneside.-History:The company was founded by Alphonse Constant Reyrolle, a Frenchman, in 1886 at Fitzroy Square in London to produce scientific instruments. He moved the business to...
and by M&C Switchgear. The volume of Blyth B's main buildings represented 0.76 cubic metres (26.8 cu ft)/kW of installed capacity, while Blyth A's building volume represented 0.74 cubic metres (26.1 cu ft)/kW.
Operations
Coal transportation
The stations burned a mix of bituminousBituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
and anthracite coal. They consumed 51000 tonnes (50,194.4 LT) of coal per week and had a peak consumption of 70000 tonnes (68,894.2 LT) per week during the winter. They were well positioned to use coal from the Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
and County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
coal fields
Coalfield
A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological...
. All of the coal used in the stations was brought to them via rail transport
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
from UK coal stocks. Trains delivered coal to the station using the North Blyth Branch of the Blyth and Tyne Railway. The stations' coal handling facility was fitted with a Merry go Round
Merry-go-round train
A Merry-go-round train, often abbreviated to MGR, is a block train of hopper wagons which both loads and unloads its cargo while moving. In the United Kingdom, they are most commonly coal trains delivering to power stations...
(MGR) coal delivery system in 1981, after high capacity rapid discharge waggons became the British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
standard. This system involved the trains slowly passing over a hopper
Hopper
Hopper may refer to:-Mechanical parts:* A general term for a chute with additional width and depth for temporary storage* Hopper , a large container used for dust collection* Part of a combine harvester...
and automatically discharging their cargo through doors underneath the train. Because of site space restrictions, a balloon loop
Balloon loop
A balloon loop or turning loop allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to shunt or even stop. Balloon loops can be useful for passenger trains and unit freight trains, such as coal trains....
track layout could not be constructed, so instead of being able to move continuously, trains arriving on site had to pull onto a reception track; the locomotive would then uncouple and recouple at the opposite end, before slowly moving over the unloading track hopper and discharging the coal and eventually leaving site. Towards the end of the station's operation, coal was more frequently brought in by road. All coal was delivered to and stored in a large open area to the north of the power stations. This had a tarmac
Tarmac
Tarmac is a type of road surface. Tarmac refers to a material patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901...
barrier underneath it to prevent downward contamination. The coal was brought from the storage area to the station using a system of conveyor belt
Conveyor belt
A conveyor belt consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley...
s, which travelled over the Bedlington-Cambois Road separating the two sites, before being integrated to feed both stations as necessary.
Cooling system
Water is essential to a thermal power stationThermal power station
A thermal power station is a power plant in which the prime mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated; this...
, to create the steam to turn the steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s and generate electricity. Water used in the power station at Blyth was extracted from the Blyth Harbour tidal basin at the ash dock. Once used in the station, the hot water had to be cooled before it could be discharged. Condensers were used to convert steam from the turbines back into water. The stations' condensers were of twin two-pass design and had a total cooling surface of 70000 square feet (6,503.2 m²). Condensed water was then extracted by two duty pumps. The water then passed through a drains cooler. The cooled waste water was discharged into the sea off Cambois beach below low tide level.
Ash removal
Pulverised Fuel AshPulverised Fuel Ash
Pulverised fuel ash , is a by product of pulverised fuel fired power stations. The fuel is pulverised into a fine powder, mixed with heated air and burned. Approximately 18% of the fuel forms fine glass spheres, the lighter of which are borne aloft by the combustion process...
(PFA) and Furnace Bottom Ash
Bottom ash
Bottom ash refers to part of the non-combustible residues of combustion. In an industrial context, it usually refers to coal combustion and comprises traces of combustibles embedded in forming clinkers and sticking to hot side walls of a coal-burning furnace during its operation. The portion of...
(FBA) were byproducts produced through the burning of coal in the station. Bottom ash was removed from ash hoppers at the bottom of the boilers by high pressure water jets. It then travelled to ash settling ponds via sluiceways. For much of the station's life, the station was served by a series of barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s, which took the ash to dump 4.8 kilometres (3 mi) out into the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. Two barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s provided this service over the years; Sir Fon and MVA. The barges were loaded by silo
Silo
A silo is a structure for storing bulk materials.Silo may also refer to:* Silo , a 3D modeling software* Silo , a defunct chain of retail electronics stores* SILO , used in Linux...
s situated at a special dock to the east of the stations. However, dumping in the sea stopped in 1992 when the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships prevented further dumping in the North Sea. From then on FBA was sold to the construction industry, while PFA was either dried for sale, or was disposed of at a licensed landfill
Landfill
A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
on-site.
Closure
In 1989, Blyth A won a place in the Guinness Book of RecordsGuinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
by setting the world record for total running hours in a plant of its size, when all four generating units achieved 200,000 running hours. With the privatisation of the UK's electric supply industry in 1990, the station passed into the ownership of National Power
National Power
- History :National Power was formed following the privatisation of the UK electricity market in 1990. In England and Wales the Central Electricity Generating Board, which was responsible for the generation and transmission of electricity was split into three generating companies Powergen, National...
. In 1991, the two 275 MW units at Blyth B (units 5 & 6) were decommissioned on the grounds of economy, despite the station having been modernised in the early 1980s. This decommissioning resulted in 260 job losses.
During the 1990s, the station became one of the UK's least efficient power stations. In 1998, plans were announced to use the station as a test-bed for clean coal technology
Clean coal technology
Clean coal technology is a collection of technologies being developed to reduce the environmental impact of coal energy generation. When coal is used as a fuel source, the gaseous emmissions generated by the thermal decomposition of the coal, include sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon...
, but the plans did not come to fruition. In 1999, then owners Innogy decided to take Blyth A out of operation, while Blyth B began operating only at times of peak demand, because the stations had become surplus to their generating needs. From 1 April 2000 onwards the station was taken out of service for the summer months, because of the low demand for electricity at that time of year. However, staff were retained to maintain the station. Innogy then began looking for a buyer for the station, to decide the site's future. They had been in talks with American based NRG Energy
NRG Energy
NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company headquartered in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, near Princeton.-Electrical Power Generation Operations:...
, over a £410 million purchase of the station, along with the Killingholme Power Station
Killingholme Power Station
Killingholme Power Station is the name given to two CCGT natural gas power stations near to East Halton and North Killingholme in North Lincolnshire; Killigholme B opened in 1993 and is owned by E.ON UK and Killingholme A opened in 1994 and is owned by Centrica.-900 MW plant:The E.ON UK...
in North Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in the region of Yorkshire and the Humber in England. For ceremonial purposes it is part of Lincolnshire....
. There had also been rumours that a deal had been made to convert the station into a waste-to-energy plant
Waste-to-energy
Waste-to-energy or energy-from-waste is the process of creating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the incineration of waste source. WtE is a form of energy recovery...
. However, any plans to save the station fell through and the generation of electricity at the station ceased on 31 January 2001, after 43 years of operating, resulting in the loss of 131 jobs.
At the time of its closure, Blyth Power Station was the oldest coal-fired power station in Britain. The station long outlived its life expectancy of 25 years. The length of time that the station was in use is partly due to its value in the National Grid, as a "charge" near to a major node in the system.
Shortly after its closure, a joint proposal was made by the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and the Ministry of Agriculture
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom...
to burn the carcasses of animals slaughtered during the 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis in portable incinerators at the station. The station was proposed because of its high chimneys, but strong opposition from local residents and Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, along with the proximity of over 100,000 people living within 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) of the site, meant that the proposal was quickly rejected.
Demolition
The demolition contract for the station was won by London-based company Brown & Mason. Before the demolition of the stations' main structures, it was required that they be decommissioned. This involved the removal of hazardous materials and contaminants, to keep in line with Health & Safety at Work regulations. Oils and chemicals were removed for re-use or disposal and storage tanks were flushed out. MethanolMethanol
Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH . It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol...
was removed from hydrogen production plants on site, along with bottled propane
Propane
Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...
used for welding. The remaining coal in the coal storage area was dispatched to operating power stations in other parts of the country. The landfill site where ash waste from the station was dumped was topsoiled. Asbestos
Asbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
used in the stations was removed prior to the demolition of the stations' structures.
The stations were demolished between 2001 and 2003. The smaller buildings and structures were first to be demolished. One worker was killed during the demolition work, in May 2001, crushed underneath an electrical connection box which fell from a wall. On the 31 October 2001, the ash silo which stood at the ash dock was toppled using explosives to demolish the stilts the structure stood on. The silo was then dismantled by bulldozers. All of the smaller structures had been removed by July 2002. On 11 July 2002, the A Station's boiler house was demolished. The 61 metres (200.1 ft) high coal conveyor belt was demolished on 6 February 2003. The station's precipitators were demolished on 27 March and 17 April 2003. On 1 May 2003, the B Station's bunker bay building was demolished, and on 22 May 2003, the stations air heater was demolished. A fire started at the station on 17 June 2003, when a bunker caught fire after hot cutting equipment set fire to coke remnants. All of the larger structures had been demolished by July 2003. It was planned for the stations' chimneys to be demolished in October 2003, but that had to be postponed due to the complexity of the demolition. However, at noon on 7 December 2003, the four chimneys, each weighing 17000 tonnes (16,731.5 LT), were demolished using a total of 150 kilograms (330.7 lb) of the industrial explosive Gelemex. The demolition is thought to have been the biggest chimney demolition in 50 years.
Present and future uses of the site
Since Innogy was taken over by RWERWE
RWE AG , is a German electric power and natural gas public utility company based in Essen. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company contributes electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe...
in 2002, the site has been owned by RWE Npower
Npower (UK)
RWE Npower plc is a UK-based electricity and gas supply generation company, formerly known as Innogy plc. As Innogy plc it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...
. The only substantial structures remaining are the National Grid and NEDL
Northern Electric
Northern Electric was an electricity supply and distribution company serving north east England.-History:It had its origins as the North Eastern Electricity Board, formed as part of the nationalisation of the electricity industry by the Electricity Act 1947....
substations
Electrical substation
A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions...
. These buildings will continue to remain and there are plans to extend the National Grid substation. The rest of the power station site is unused brownfield land
Brownfield land
Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. Expansion or redevelopment of such a facility may be complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations. Cf. Waste...
. The site of the main station buildings is currently covered in crushed concrete, left over from the demolition process. Underground workings, such as tunnels and culverts, also still exist on the site. The coal storage area to the north has been tarmaced and ash settling ponds have been filled with concrete. Some ash mounds are still situated to the east of the site.
Clean coal power station
In May 2007, Npower announced plans to build a new £2 billion clean coal power stationClean coal technology
Clean coal technology is a collection of technologies being developed to reduce the environmental impact of coal energy generation. When coal is used as a fuel source, the gaseous emmissions generated by the thermal decomposition of the coal, include sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon...
on the site. The proposed station would have generated electricity using three 800 MW advanced supercritical steam, high-efficiency coal-fired units, giving the station a total generation capacity of 2,400 MW. This was one of two new coal-fired stations proposed by Npower in the UK. The site was chosen because of its readily available proximity to the national grid, its rail and port links, and its position next to the North Sea, which is useful for both cooling water, and as a potential CO2 storage site, where CO2 could be piped to oil and gas wells, and saline aquifers.
The station would have had an efficiency of 46%, which in comparison to conventional subcritical coal-fired power stations, equates to a reduction in carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
(CO2) of 23% per unit of electricity generated. The station would have utilised pollution abatement and gas cleaning systems, including selective catalytic reduction
Selective catalytic reduction
Selective catalytic reduction is a means of converting nitrogen oxides, also referred to as with the aid of a catalyst into diatomic nitrogen , , and water, . A gaseous reductant, typically anhydrous ammonia, aqueous ammonia or urea, is added to a stream of flue or exhaust gas and is absorbed...
, to remove nitrogen oxide
Nitrogen oxide
Nitrogen oxide can refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds:* Nitric oxide, also known as nitrogen monoxide, , nitrogen oxide* Nitrogen dioxide , nitrogen oxide...
, and Flue-gas desulphurisation, to remove sulphur dioxide. The station would also have been able to allow the installation of Carbon Capture and Storage
Carbon capture and storage
Carbon capture and storage , alternatively referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is a technology to prevent large quantities of from being released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuel in power generation and other industries. It is often regarded as a means of mitigating...
(CCS) technology, when it becomes technically and commercially viable. There was also a possibility that the station may have co-fired biomass
Biomass
Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....
, and cogenerated
Cogeneration
Cogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat....
heat as a combined heat and power plant.
Coal was expected to be able to be delivered to the station by rail, as well as by ship to the Port of Blyth. The station's coal storage area would have stored a minimum 45 days worth of coal supply. All of the station's pulverised fuel ash
Pulverised Fuel Ash
Pulverised fuel ash , is a by product of pulverised fuel fired power stations. The fuel is pulverised into a fine powder, mixed with heated air and burned. Approximately 18% of the fuel forms fine glass spheres, the lighter of which are borne aloft by the combustion process...
(PFA) may have been sold to the construction industry, transported to which in dry dust tankers. Unsold PFA and furnace bottom ash
Bottom ash
Bottom ash refers to part of the non-combustible residues of combustion. In an industrial context, it usually refers to coal combustion and comprises traces of combustibles embedded in forming clinkers and sticking to hot side walls of a coal-burning furnace during its operation. The portion of...
would be taken to a landfill site by road.
Fifteen hundred jobs would have been created during the station's construction, and more than 200 full-time jobs would have been available once the station was operating.
The Environmental Assessment Scoping Report for the proposed station was submitted to the Department of Trade and Industry in 2007, and the application for the development was to be made to the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform once the Environmental Impact Assessment was completed. A contract had already been signed with the Shaw Group to design and engineer the station. If Npower had been granted permission to build the new station, construction work would have begun in 2010, and the station was expected to be fully commissioned by 2014. It would have been one of the most efficient coal-fired power stations of its size in the UK.
Blyth Valley Council
Blyth Valley
Blyth Valley was a Local government district and borough in south-east Northumberland, England, bordering the North Sea and Tyne and Wear. The two principal towns were Blyth and Cramlington...
said the proposal did not fit with regeneration plans in the area. Residents living in the area voiced opinions that the land should be redeveloped for other purposes, rather than continue to be used as an industrial site. The MP for Wansbeck
Wansbeck (UK Parliament constituency)
Wansbeck is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
, Denis Murphy
Denis Murphy (UK politician)
Denis Murphy is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Wansbeck from 1997 until 2010.-Early life:...
, stated that, although the project would have benefits for the area, he still had concerns. Ronnie Campbell
Ronnie Campbell
Ronald Campbell is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Blyth Valley since 1987.-Early life:He grew up in a family of eight brothers and sisters...
, the MP for Blyth Valley
Blyth Valley (UK Parliament constituency)
Blyth Valley is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
, claimed he would welcome the development as long as it did not have an adverse effect on the overall regeneration of the area. On 5 June 2008, Npower reopened the original gatehouse at the entrance to the power station's site, to provide a "drop-in" centre for the public to find out more about the proposed plans.
In August 2009, following a visit to Cambois from Minister of State
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...
for Energy at the Department of Energy and Climate Change
Department of Energy and Climate Change
The Department of Energy and Climate Change is a British government department created on 3 October 2008 by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the functions of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs...
Joan Ruddock
Joan Ruddock
Joan Mary Ruddock is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Lewisham Deptford since 1987. She is a feminist and is the wife of Frank Doran, the Labour MP for Aberdeen North...
, it was revealed that the government were determined to go ahead with four new coal-fired power stations. She stated that they had no scepticism about CCS technology, with a competition having been started between the big energy companies to create a viable form of the technology, set to end in 2014. However this meant the station may not have been completed until 2020.
Despite this support, RWE announced in November 2009 that they have postponed their plans for the new power station. They are not yet going make a formal planning application for the plant, saying that the time is not right for such a huge investment. Dave Carlton, RWE's project manager, has said that they "see the site as an important one, both for RWE npower and in terms of the UK’s future power generation”, and so RWE npower have retained the site for a possible future power station. Malcolm Reid of People Against New Coal Stations, a group opposed to the power station development, said:
"We would now like to see Northumberland County CouncilNorthumberland County CouncilNorthumberland County Council is a unitary authority in North East England. It was originally formed in 1889 as the council for the administrative county of Northumberland and reformed in 1974 to cover a the newly formed non-metropolitan county of Northumberland...
re-designate the Cambois site for green, clean technology, to match what is happening at the New and Renewable Energy CentreNaRECNarec is a UK centre for renewable energy and low carbon technologies. The centre develops prototypes, tests renewable devices to international standards, and is involved in installing low carbon technologies. It is very similar to other centres, such as NREL in the US and National Centre for...
(NaREC) in Blyth. It is a perfect area for a factory for offshore wind turbineWind turbineA wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...
s and housing development. If Cambois is re-designated then the prospect of the area being regenerated rises colossally.”
Wind turbine factory
In April 2010, Malcolm Reid proposed the station's site as a possible location for a £80 million SiemensSiemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
wind turbine factory. The factory would create 700 jobs and up to 1,500 further jobs in the supply chain if built. He has said the site would be perfect for the factory because of its close proximity to NaREC and the site's existing deep dock facilities. The factory is likely to be built either in Blyth or on Humberside
Humberside
Humberside was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East and West ridings of Yorkshire and parts of Lindsey, Lincolnshire...
.
Social and cultural impact
The power stations had very few television and film appearances:- In 1991, the site was used as a shooting location for the sci-fi horror film Alien 3. Various locations in the North East of England were used in shooting the film, and the power station provided the location for some shots of the planet surface.
- During the latter stages of the stations' demolition, a documentary was made. The documentary was included in the Channel Five television programme The Demolition Squad.
Despite the small amount of media usage of the power stations, their four chimneys were still a strong landmark within the south east Northumberland landscape. They could be seen from as far south as 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) away at Callerton, in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, and over an 13.2 kilometres (8.2 mi) stretch of coast, from Seaton Sluice
Seaton Sluice
Seaton Sluice is a village in Northumberland. It lies on the coast at the mouth of the Seaton Burn, midway between Whitley Bay and Blyth. It has a population of about 3,000 people.- Early history :...
up to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea is a small town in Northumberland, England, lying on the North Sea coast. Once an important port for shipping grain and a coal mining town, it is still a small fishing port making use of traditional coble boats.- History :...
. This is mostly because the stations were constructed in a largely flat, rural area.
In 1995, the site was considered for scheduling by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
, because of its national importance as a good example of a late 20th-century power station. It was also important because of its use as a testing ground for various generating sizes, from which came success in the UK's electricity industry. However, by then the station's buildings were in poor condition and it would have been financially difficult to ensure their long term preservation. Instead, it was decided a comprehensive study and photographic record of the station would be commissioned.
Due to the closure of Blyth Power Stations, along with the power stations at Dunston and Stella in the 1980s and 1990s respectively, the northern part of North East England has become heavily dependent upon the National Grid for electrical supply. However, there are still two large power stations at Hartlepool and Wilton
Teesside power station
Teesside Power Station is a partially mothballed gas-fired power station, in Redcar & Cleveland, England. Situated near the Wilton chemical complex, the station has combined cycle gas turbines and open cycle gas turbines , however in 2011 the operation of the CCGT part of the station was suspended...
in the south of the region.
See also
- Electricity Act 1947
- Electricity Act 1957Electricity Act 1957The Electricity Act 1957 was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The principal impact of the Act was the dissolution of the Central Electricity Authority , which it replaced with the Central Electricity Generating Board and the Electricity Council.The Electricity Act 1947, which...
- Energy use and conservation in the United KingdomEnergy use and conservation in the United KingdomEnergy use in the United Kingdom stood at 3,894.6 kilogrammes of oil equivalent per capita in 2005 compared to a world average of 1,778.0. In 2008, total energy consumed was 9.85 exajoules - around 2% of the estimated 474 EJ worldwide total...
- List of power stations in England
- Northern ElectricNorthern ElectricNorthern Electric was an electricity supply and distribution company serving north east England.-History:It had its origins as the North Eastern Electricity Board, formed as part of the nationalisation of the electricity industry by the Electricity Act 1947....
- Timeline of the UK electricity supply industryTimeline of the UK electricity supply industryThe following is a list of major events in the history of the United Kingdom's electricity supply industry.-See also:*Energy policy of the United Kingdom*Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom*Energy switching services in the UK-References:* *...
External links
- BBC News - photo gallery of chimney demolition
- Newbiggin-by-the-Sea - Photos of chimney demolition from Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
- Video - Video of the chimney demolition
- Google Video - Video of chimney demolition
- YouTube - Video with two different views of chimney demolition
- Cefas - Monthly mean sea temperature at Blyth Power Station
- npower UK
- Fotopic - Photos of the coal storage area
- Fotopic - Set containing images of the station
- PANiC Stations - A group of local residents and a collection of various agencies, who are opposed to the construction of a new coal-fired station
- Politics Show - Debate over the construction of the proposed new station
- Video Part 1 + Part 2 - Video commemorating Byth A power station's world record breaking achievements