Lynemouth Power Station
Encyclopedia
Alcan Lynemouth Power Station (generally known as Lynemouth Power Station) is a coal
and biomass
fired power station
which provides electricity for the Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter
and the National Grid. It is located on the coast
of Northumberland
, north east of the town of Ashington
in North East England
. The station has stood as a landmark on the Northumberland coast since it opened in 1972, and has been privately owned by aluminium
company Rio Tinto Alcan (formerly Alcan) throughout its operation.
The station is one of the most recently built coal-fired power stations in the United Kingdom, but with a generating capacity of only 420 megawatts (MW), is now one of the smallest operating. It is the most thermally efficient
coal-fired power station in the UK. Two separate wind farm
plans currently have permission to be built near the station, one for a 13 turbine
wind farm near the smelter and another three turbine wind farm to the north of the station. In 2009, Alcan announced that they hope to fit the station with carbon capture and storage
technology. In 2011, it was announced that the power station may be converted to burn biomass only, in a bid to avoid government legislation.
had applied for planning permission for the construction of a new aluminum smelter in Northumberland
at Lynemouth
. Later that year, Alcan was granted the permission and site preparation would soon begin. However, to meet the electric demand of the new smelter, a power station would also be needed to be built. Therefore, Lynemouth Power Station was constructed only 800 m (2,624.7 ft) from the aluminum smelter.
The two establishments were constructed in South East Northumberland as part of an incentive to lower the high unemployment numbers. The site was also chosen because of the Ellington
and Lynemouth collieries. Ellington Colliery sunk in 1909, with Lynemouth Colliery sinking 18 years later. However in 1968, the two collieries were connected underground by the Bewick Drift, from which coal was brought to the surface. The Drift had no rail connection, and so coal was sent to the washery at Lynemouth by conveyor belt
. The power station was constructed nearby the end of the conveyor belt.
Both buildings were designed by architects Yorke, Rosenberg & Mardall, with engineering consultation from Engineering & Power Consultants Ltd. The power station was constructed by Tarmac Construction and the smelter by M.J. Gleeson Company. Both the power station and smelter were brought into operation in March 1972.
The power station is divided into structures, which mainly include a boiler house
and a turbine hall
. Both of these structures have a steel frame
foundation in the walls with aluminum cladding
. Other structures include a single 114 m (374 ft) tall chimney made out of solid reinforced concrete
, and coal delivery and sorting plant.
The station's boiler house houses three 380 MWth International Combustion
boilers, which are fueled by pulverised bituminous coal
. Each of these provide steam for on of three 140 megawatt (MW) Parsons
turbo-alternators, situated in the station's turbine hall. These give the station a total generating capacity of 420 MW. The electricity generated is fed at 24 kilovolt
(kV) to a substation
which powers the smelter. The substation also has a 132 kV connection to the National Grid, where electricity is distributed to homes and other industries by Northern Electric Distribution Limited
. The smelter's two pot lines only require 310 MW of the 420 MW that the power station produces, so it is the excess 110 MW which is fed into the national grid.
Between 1999 and 2000, the power station was given a turbine upgrade. In 2000, the station's condensers were also refurbished. The condenser refurbishment was carried out by Alstom
. These improvements saw an increase in the station's generating capacity, thermal efficiency and MWh
production.
The power station is the leading coal
customer in Northumberland, burning 1,200,000 tonnes of coal a year, with a weekly coal consumption between 25,000 and 27,000 tonnes. The station has relatively limited coal storage facilities, and is only able to hold three to four weeks worth of its fuel.
The station was designed specifically to burn coal from the Northumberland coalfields. The neighbouring Ellington Colliery
originally fed coal directly to the power station using a conveyor belt
from its Bewick Drift Mine, situated 970 metres (3,182.4 ft) from the station. Within a year of the power station opening, 3,000 men were employed between the Ellington and Lynemouth collieries, producing over two million tons of coal a year, the majority of it being sold to the power station. In 1994, Ellington Colliery connected underground with Lynemouth Colliery, but coal continued to be taken straight to the power station's coal sorting area using conveyor belts. This supply was supplemented by coal from local opencast mines. However, Ellington Colliery was forced to close when it flooded in January 2005. The station burned the colliery's remaining coal stock after it closed, and since then coal has been sourced from opencast mines in Northumberland
and Scotland
, but now a small amount of import is necessary.
Coal is now delivered to the station mainly using rail transport
and is unloaded at the station using a merry-go-round
system. Trains supplying the station use the Newbiggin and Lynemouth branch line of the Blyth and Tyne Railway, which also serves the smelter. This line was originally used to export coal from Easington, and also had passenger services. These passenger services ceased in 1964, and now the line is only used to serve the power station and smelter. Coal from the local opencast mines is brought to the station by road using heavy goods vehicles. Coal is graded and washed at the station prior to being burned.
With only one significant opencast in the local area mining past 2008, along with another smaller opencast at Stony Heap, there is a need for more local supplies of coal for the station because of the risks in depending upon overseas sources of coal. Long distance supplies of coal can see sharp fluctuations in price, as well as the flexibility and security of the supply, whereas local sources aren't as vulnerable to interruptions and have fixed, contracted prices. The station is not an established importer of coal, having only imported since 2005. It is situated a long way from the major coal unloading ports of Teesside
, Hull
and Immingham
, which have been booked by power stations closer to them. This means that coal for the power station needs to be imported via Blyth
or the Port of Tyne
. However, because of the small sizes of these docks, they can only receive ships from Poland
and Russia
. Due to high production costs and industry restructuring in Poland though, the only realistic source of imported coal for the station is Russia. The environmental impact of shipping 1,000,000 tonnes of coal from Russia to Lynemouth is the production of 12,812 tonnes of CO2, whereas hauling coal from local mines to the station would produce only 703 tonnes of CO2. There are currently two local opencast mines for which planning approval have been granted, one at Shotton near Cramlington
approved in 2007, the other at Potland Burn near Ashington
approved in October 2008. However, the coal mined from Potland Burn would have too high a sulphur content to meet the station's environmental requirements, meaning it wouldn't be an immediate choice of coal for the station. Coal had been provided by the Delhi surface mine at Blagdon
, owned by Banks Developments, since 2002. It finished extracting coal in March 2009, following the permission of extension proposals to its original plans in May 2007.
. The water is transferred from the sea to the plant by a series of shafts and tunnels. There are three condensers (one per each generating set) in the interior of the power station, which are used to cool the heated water before it is reused in the steam cycle. The cooling water is then transferred back to the North Sea.
Water used in the steam cycle is taken from the local mains water, supplied by Northumbrian Water
. Up to 300,000 tons of mains water per year is used in the station, however it has to be cleaned of impurities before use. This is done at an on site water treatment plant that uses a process of ion exchange to remove impurities such as silica and control PH levels so as to avoid boiler tube corrosion. This treated water is used to make superheated steam in the coal fired boilers, that will turn the turbines before being recovered in the condenser and reused.
Operating close to the power station is a fishing bait
company, Seabait. Seabait uses some of the excess hot water that the plant generates to grow worms four times as faster than in the wild. The worms are used for several purposes, primarily for providing worms as bait while fishing. However, the worms are also frozen, packaged and exported to seafood farms. This is seen as environmentally beneficial as it reduces the need for bait digging in natural habitats.
Fly ash
and bottom ash
are two byproducts made through the burning of coal in power stations. Ash is normally dumped in the station's Ash Lagoons landfill site, which is located on site. Since 2006, ash produced at Lynemouth Power Station has been recycled and used as a sub-fill material
in the construction industry and in the production of grout
. In 2007, 63,000 tonnes of ash from the station, along with 100,000 tonnes of ash from the Ash Lagoons, was taken and recycled. In September 2007, Pulverised Fuel Ash was utilised as a filling material in the capping of Woodhorn Landfill, which had been used for the disposal of spent potlining from the smelter.
granted permission for the plant to co-fire biomass fuels in the station. Since 2004 three different types of biomass fuel been in use at Lynemouth; Sawdust
and Wood pellets from FSC
certified forests and Olive residues. These fuels are mixed with the coal on the conveyor belt into the power station. In 2004 11,000 tonnes of biomass fuel were used in the station. Because biomass is considered 'Carbon neutral
', this represents the equivalent to saving approximately 18,500 tonnes of CO2 by burning this material. Alcan aimed to increase the amount of biomass used in future.
The station earned the world class OHSAS 18001 health and safety certificate in 2003 , ahead of Alcan's global targets. All of the station's staff were required to take place in safety audits to improve working practice at the station. The certificate was presented to the station's manager by Wansbeck
MP Denis Murphy
on 15 March 2003. The station's attention to health and safety was further recognised on 6 June 2007 when they were honoured by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
(RoSPA) with a RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Award at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel. Workers at the station had been audited by RoSPA for 10 years before receiving the award.
. Tipped waste from the colliery had been used as a coastal defence measure, but as the colliery had closed, waste was no longer being tipped. The colliery was reopened by RJB Mining, and in July 1999 the station ensured the future of the colliery by signing a contract with RJB Mining to provided with 3,000,000 tonnes of coal from Ellington Colliery and opencast mines in Northumberland, over the course of three years. The colliery closed again in 2005, leading to problems with coastal defence again, threatening the station's coal stocking area. This required to a £2.5 million new coastal defence scheme be put in place, involving the use of large rocks as a defence wall.
(CO2) output. In 2002 and 2004 the station met its targets for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this, in 2006 the power station was revealed as having the fourth highest CO2 emissions in the north of England, for producing 2,685,512 tonnes of CO2 per year. However, generally the station reduced it CO2 emissions by 65% between 1990 and 2010, and the local air quality meets UK and European standards.
, to construct three 110 m (360.9 ft) tall wind turbine
s on an unused part of the station's coal sorting area, north of the power station. Permission was granted for the turbines in February 2008. In July 2010, it was revealed that the project's new developer, Clipper Windpower
, would be using the site to erect the country's first super-efficient wind turbines, called Liberty Wind Turbine
. However this meant the height of the turbines would increase from 110 m (360.9 ft) to 130 m (426.5 ft). Each turbine would have a rating of 2.5 MW, but only three turbines would be built. The wind farm would produce enough electricity to provide power for 1,690 houses. One turbine is expected to be erected initially, while environental issues are assessed.
ScottishPower Renewables
also have permission to build 13 wind tubines near the alluminium smelter. They were initially refused planning permission, which they submitted in November 2006. This was because their site is spread over two council boundaries and Wansbeck Council
approved the scheme, but Castle Morpeth
refused. An appeal hearing was given in April 2008, and permission was eventually granted in January 2009 for the construction of up to 13 turbines, producing 30 MW of electricity.
Gordon Brown
on 3 July 2009, it became apparent that Rio Tinto Alcan were hoping to be able to demonstrate Carbon Capture and Storage
(CCS) technology at the station in the future. However due to the economic climate, Rio Tinto are not willing to commit the funding for the project themselves, and so are hoping to secure European Union
funding available for demonstration of CCS technology. The investment required could be up to £1 billion, but if funding is secured, "pre-combustion" CCS technology would be installed. This would involve treating the coal prior to burning so that less CO2 was produced, with any remaining CO2 being pumped under the North Sea
into an aquifer
. In November 2009 it was announced that a variety of energy experts were preparing for the £1 billion bid to the Government for investment. The plans include a pipeline into the North Sea, and the upgrading of one of the station's generating sets from 140 MW to around 375 MW, to safeguard the supply of electricity to the aluminium smelter.
Despite these future plans, the station and smelter's futures are under threat. The European Commission
(EC) claimed that Alcan is in breach of their operating license as the station has failed to "significantly reduce its emissions". The UK Government contested the allegations, as the power station and smelter combined provide 650 jobs and a contribution of £100,000,000 to the local economy, in an area heavily affected by the loss of traditional heavy industry. They lost the court case over it and on 22 April 2010, the European Court of Justice
ruled that the plant was subject to the emission limit values of the European directive on Large Combustion Plants. As a consequence, the station has to have at least £200 million worth of adaptations made to it so that it conforms to the directive, or be shut down. A date has not yet been given for it to conform, but two options for saving the station are the CCS project, or a switch from coal to biomass as a fuel.
Lynemouth's future came further under threat in March 2011, following carbon cutting measures announced in the 2011 United Kingdom budget
. The government's plans meant that the station would cost an extra £40 million a year, erasing Rio Tinto Alcan's profits on the station. This has made the station's operators consider the option of converting the power station to operate on biomass only to avoid the penalties. However this conversion itself would cost £50 million and then using biomass instead of coal would cost an additional £170 million a year.
The chimneys of both the power station and the smelter are strong landmarks on the local coastline, and can be seen over a 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) stretch of coast, from Cresswell
down to South Shields pier
.
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...
and 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....
fired power station
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 provides electricity for the Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter
Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter
The Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter is situated near Ashington, Northumberland, on the coast of North East England, south of the village of Lynemouth. The smelter is owned by Canadian aluminium company Alcan, which is part of Rio Tinto...
and the National Grid. It is located on the coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
of 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...
, north east of the town of Ashington
Ashington
Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England with a population of around 27,000 people; it was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is located some north of Newcastle upon Tyne off the A189. The south of the town is bordered by the River Wansbeck...
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 station has stood as a landmark on the Northumberland coast since it opened in 1972, and has been privately owned by 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....
company Rio Tinto Alcan (formerly Alcan) throughout its operation.
The station is one of the most recently built coal-fired power stations in the United Kingdom, but with a generating capacity of only 420 megawatts (MW), is now one of the smallest operating. It is the most thermally efficient
Thermal efficiency
In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, a boiler, a furnace, or a refrigerator for example.-Overview:...
coal-fired power station in the UK. Two separate wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...
plans currently have permission to be built near the station, one for a 13 turbine
Wind turbine
A 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...
wind farm near the smelter and another three turbine wind farm to the north of the station. In 2009, Alcan announced that they hope to fit the station with 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...
technology. In 2011, it was announced that the power station may be converted to burn biomass only, in a bid to avoid government legislation.
History
In 1968, AlcanAlcan
Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. is a Canadian company based in Montreal. It was created on November 15, 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto PLC's Canadian subsidiary, Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc., and Canadian company Alcan Inc. On the same date, Alcan Inc. was renamed Rio Tinto Alcan Inc..Rio...
had applied for planning permission for the construction of a new aluminum smelter 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...
at Lynemouth
Lynemouth
Lynemouth is a village in Northumberland, England. The village is situated northeast of Ashington, and is in close proximity to the village of Ellington which is located to the north west...
. Later that year, Alcan was granted the permission and site preparation would soon begin. However, to meet the electric demand of the new smelter, a power station would also be needed to be built. Therefore, Lynemouth Power Station was constructed only 800 m (2,624.7 ft) from the aluminum smelter.
The two establishments were constructed in South East Northumberland as part of an incentive to lower the high unemployment numbers. The site was also chosen because of the Ellington
Ellington, Northumberland
Ellington is a small village on the coast of Northumberland, England. Ellington is four miles from Ashington, six miles from Morpeth and twenty miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne....
and Lynemouth collieries. Ellington Colliery sunk in 1909, with Lynemouth Colliery sinking 18 years later. However in 1968, the two collieries were connected underground by the Bewick Drift, from which coal was brought to the surface. The Drift had no rail connection, and so coal was sent to the washery at Lynemouth by 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...
. The power station was constructed nearby the end of the conveyor belt.
Both buildings were designed by architects Yorke, Rosenberg & Mardall, with engineering consultation from Engineering & Power Consultants Ltd. The power station was constructed by Tarmac Construction and the smelter by M.J. Gleeson Company. Both the power station and smelter were brought into operation in March 1972.
Design and specifications
Mechanical room
A mechanical room or a boiler room is a room or space in a building dedicated to the mechanical equipment and its associated electrical equipment. Unless a building is served by a centralized heating plant, the size of the mechanical room is usually proportional to the size of the building...
and a turbine hall
Turbine Hall
The turbine hall, generating hall or turbine building is a building that is a part of any steam cycle or hydroelectric power plant which houses a number of components vital to the generation of electricity from the steam that comes from the boiler, or from the water coming from the reservoir...
. Both of these structures have 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...
foundation in the walls with aluminum cladding
Cladding (construction)
Cladding is the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer intended to control the infiltration of weather elements, or for aesthetic purposes....
. Other structures include a single 114 m (374 ft) tall chimney made out of solid 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...
, and coal delivery and sorting plant.
The station's boiler house houses three 380 MWth International Combustion
International Combustion
International Combustion Limited was a major manufacturing business based in Derby offering products for the nuclear engineering industry. International Combustion Australia Limited was a separate non-affiliated company.-History:...
boilers, which are fueled by pulverised bituminous coal
Bituminous 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...
. Each of these provide steam for on of three 140 megawatt (MW) Parsons
C. A. Parsons and Company
C. A. Parsons and Company was a British engineering firm which was once one of the largest employers on Tyneside.-History:The Company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1889 to produce turbo-generators, his own invention. At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the company was producing...
turbo-alternators, situated in the station's turbine hall. These give the station a total generating capacity of 420 MW. The electricity generated is fed at 24 kilovolt
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
(kV) to a substation
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...
which powers the smelter. The substation also has a 132 kV connection to the National Grid, where electricity is distributed to homes and other industries by Northern Electric Distribution Limited
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....
. The smelter's two pot lines only require 310 MW of the 420 MW that the power station produces, so it is the excess 110 MW which is fed into the national grid.
Between 1999 and 2000, the power station was given a turbine upgrade. In 2000, the station's condensers were also refurbished. The condenser refurbishment was carried out by Alstom
Alstom
Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...
. These improvements saw an increase in the station's generating capacity, thermal efficiency and MWh
MWH
MWH may stand for:* International Air Transport Association airport code for Grant County International Airport* MWH Global, an international water engineering consultancy* Men Without Hats, a Canadian New Wave band...
production.
Coal supply and transport
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...
customer in Northumberland, burning 1,200,000 tonnes of coal a year, with a weekly coal consumption between 25,000 and 27,000 tonnes. The station has relatively limited coal storage facilities, and is only able to hold three to four weeks worth of its fuel.
The station was designed specifically to burn coal from the Northumberland coalfields. The neighbouring Ellington Colliery
Ellington, Northumberland
Ellington is a small village on the coast of Northumberland, England. Ellington is four miles from Ashington, six miles from Morpeth and twenty miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne....
originally fed coal directly to the power station using a 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...
from its Bewick Drift Mine, situated 970 metres (3,182.4 ft) from the station. Within a year of the power station opening, 3,000 men were employed between the Ellington and Lynemouth collieries, producing over two million tons of coal a year, the majority of it being sold to the power station. In 1994, Ellington Colliery connected underground with Lynemouth Colliery, but coal continued to be taken straight to the power station's coal sorting area using conveyor belts. This supply was supplemented by coal from local opencast mines. However, Ellington Colliery was forced to close when it flooded in January 2005. The station burned the colliery's remaining coal stock after it closed, and since then coal has been sourced from opencast mines 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...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, but now a small amount of import is necessary.
Coal is now delivered to the station mainly using 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...
and is unloaded at the station using 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...
system. Trains supplying the station use the Newbiggin and Lynemouth branch line of the Blyth and Tyne Railway, which also serves the smelter. This line was originally used to export coal from Easington, and also had passenger services. These passenger services ceased in 1964, and now the line is only used to serve the power station and smelter. Coal from the local opencast mines is brought to the station by road using heavy goods vehicles. Coal is graded and washed at the station prior to being burned.
With only one significant opencast in the local area mining past 2008, along with another smaller opencast at Stony Heap, there is a need for more local supplies of coal for the station because of the risks in depending upon overseas sources of coal. Long distance supplies of coal can see sharp fluctuations in price, as well as the flexibility and security of the supply, whereas local sources aren't as vulnerable to interruptions and have fixed, contracted prices. The station is not an established importer of coal, having only imported since 2005. It is situated a long way from the major coal unloading ports of Teesside
Teesside
Teesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England made up of the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Billingham and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974—the County Borough of...
, Hull
Port of Hull
The Port of Hull is a trading port located at the confluence of the River Hull and the Humber Estuary in the city of Kingston upon Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Seaborne trade can be traced to at least the 13th century...
and Immingham
Immingham Dock
Immingham Dock is a port facility, with linking railways, opened upstream from Grimsby by the Great Central Railway in 1912. It was first conceived in 1874, during the company's Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway days, after test borings north-west of Grimsby had been made by marine...
, which have been booked by power stations closer to them. This means that coal for the power station needs to be imported via 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...
or the Port of Tyne
Port of Tyne
The Port of Tyne comprises the commercial docks in and around the River Tyne in Tyne and Wear in the north east of England.- History :There has been a port on the Tyne at least since the Romans used their settlement of Arbeia to supply the garrison of Hadrian's Wall...
. However, because of the small sizes of these docks, they can only receive ships from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Due to high production costs and industry restructuring in Poland though, the only realistic source of imported coal for the station is Russia. The environmental impact of shipping 1,000,000 tonnes of coal from Russia to Lynemouth is the production of 12,812 tonnes of CO2, whereas hauling coal from local mines to the station would produce only 703 tonnes of CO2. There are currently two local opencast mines for which planning approval have been granted, one at Shotton near Cramlington
Cramlington
Cramlington is a town and civil parish in the county of Northumberland, North East England, situated north of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The town's name suggests a probable founding by the Danes or an Anglo-Saxon origin, the word "ton" meaning town. The population was estimated as 39,000 in...
approved in 2007, the other at Potland Burn near Ashington
Ashington
Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England with a population of around 27,000 people; it was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is located some north of Newcastle upon Tyne off the A189. The south of the town is bordered by the River Wansbeck...
approved in October 2008. However, the coal mined from Potland Burn would have too high a sulphur content to meet the station's environmental requirements, meaning it wouldn't be an immediate choice of coal for the station. Coal had been provided by the Delhi surface mine at Blagdon
Blagdon Hall
Blagdon Hall is a privately owned country mansion near Seaton Burn, Northumberland which has Grade I listed building status.The estate has been in the ownership of the White Ridley family since 1698....
, owned by Banks Developments, since 2002. It finished extracting coal in March 2009, following the permission of extension proposals to its original plans in May 2007.
Water use
For creating the steam to turn steam turbines and generate electricity, and for cooling the steam coming away from the turbines, water is needed, and is thus beneficial to have near any thermal power station. The cooling water that is used in the Lynemouth power station is taken from a body of water located close to the plant, the North SeaNorth 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 water is transferred from the sea to the plant by a series of shafts and tunnels. There are three condensers (one per each generating set) in the interior of the power station, which are used to cool the heated water before it is reused in the steam cycle. The cooling water is then transferred back to the North Sea.
Water used in the steam cycle is taken from the local mains water, supplied by Northumbrian Water
Northumbrian Water
Northumbrian Water Group plc is the holding company for several companies in the water supply, sewerage and waste water industries. NWG's largest subsidiary is Northumbrian Water Limited , which is one of ten companies in England and Wales that are regulated water supply and sewerage utilities...
. Up to 300,000 tons of mains water per year is used in the station, however it has to be cleaned of impurities before use. This is done at an on site water treatment plant that uses a process of ion exchange to remove impurities such as silica and control PH levels so as to avoid boiler tube corrosion. This treated water is used to make superheated steam in the coal fired boilers, that will turn the turbines before being recovered in the condenser and reused.
Operating close to the power station is a fishing bait
Fishing bait
Fishing bait is any substance used to attract and catch fish, e.g. on the end of a fishing hook, or inside a fish trap. Traditionally, nightcrawlers, insects, and smaller bait fish have been used for this purpose...
company, Seabait. Seabait uses some of the excess hot water that the plant generates to grow worms four times as faster than in the wild. The worms are used for several purposes, primarily for providing worms as bait while fishing. However, the worms are also frozen, packaged and exported to seafood farms. This is seen as environmentally beneficial as it reduces the need for bait digging in natural habitats.
Ash removal
Fly ash
Fly ash is one of the residues generated in combustion, and comprises the fine particles that rise with the flue gases. Ash which does not rise is termed bottom ash. In an industrial context, fly ash usually refers to ash produced during combustion of coal...
and 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...
are two byproducts made through the burning of coal in power stations. Ash is normally dumped in the station's Ash Lagoons landfill site, which is located on site. Since 2006, ash produced at Lynemouth Power Station has been recycled and used as a sub-fill material
Fill dirt
Fill dirt is earthy material which is used to fill in a depression or hole in the ground or create mounds or otherwise artificially change the grade or elevation of real property....
in the construction industry and in the production of grout
Grout
Grout is a construction material used to embed rebars in masonry walls, connect sections of pre-cast concrete, fill voids, and seal joints . Grout is generally composed of a mixture of water, cement, sand, often color tint, and sometimes fine gravel...
. In 2007, 63,000 tonnes of ash from the station, along with 100,000 tonnes of ash from the Ash Lagoons, was taken and recycled. In September 2007, Pulverised Fuel Ash was utilised as a filling material in the capping of Woodhorn Landfill, which had been used for the disposal of spent potlining from the smelter.
Biomass usage
In December 2003 the Environment AgencyEnvironment Agency
The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
granted permission for the plant to co-fire biomass fuels in the station. Since 2004 three different types of biomass fuel been in use at Lynemouth; Sawdust
Sawdust
Sawdust is a by-product of cutting lumber with a saw, composed of fine particles of wood. It can present a hazard in manufacturing industries, especially in terms of its flammability....
and Wood pellets from FSC
Forest Stewardship Council
The Forest Stewardship Council is an international not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established in 1993 to promote responsible management of the world’s forests. Its main tools for achieving this are standard setting, independent certification and labeling of forest products...
certified forests and Olive residues. These fuels are mixed with the coal on the conveyor belt into the power station. In 2004 11,000 tonnes of biomass fuel were used in the station. Because biomass is considered 'Carbon neutral
Carbon neutral
Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset, or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference...
', this represents the equivalent to saving approximately 18,500 tonnes of CO2 by burning this material. Alcan aimed to increase the amount of biomass used in future.
The station earned the world class OHSAS 18001 health and safety certificate in 2003 , ahead of Alcan's global targets. All of the station's staff were required to take place in safety audits to improve working practice at the station. The certificate was presented to the station's manager by 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 :...
MP 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:...
on 15 March 2003. The station's attention to health and safety was further recognised on 6 June 2007 when they were honoured by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is a British charity which aims to promote safety. It is particularly known for its vocal campaigns on issues of road safety, including Tufty the road crossing squirrel, the Cycling Proficiency Test and the Green Cross Code, as well as on issues of...
(RoSPA) with a RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Award at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel. Workers at the station had been audited by RoSPA for 10 years before receiving the award.
Coastal defence
In late 1994, the power station was flooded to a foot deep of sea water, after a freak high tide and strong winds. This led to a sea defence system being constructed to protect the building. The problems came about because of the temporary closure of Ellington CollieryEllington, Northumberland
Ellington is a small village on the coast of Northumberland, England. Ellington is four miles from Ashington, six miles from Morpeth and twenty miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne....
. Tipped waste from the colliery had been used as a coastal defence measure, but as the colliery had closed, waste was no longer being tipped. The colliery was reopened by RJB Mining, and in July 1999 the station ensured the future of the colliery by signing a contract with RJB Mining to provided with 3,000,000 tonnes of coal from Ellington Colliery and opencast mines in Northumberland, over the course of three years. The colliery closed again in 2005, leading to problems with coastal defence again, threatening the station's coal stocking area. This required to a £2.5 million new coastal defence scheme be put in place, involving the use of large rocks as a defence wall.
Environmental impact
The power station's use of biomass since 2004 has been part of an attempt to reduce its carbon dioxideCarbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
(CO2) output. In 2002 and 2004 the station met its targets for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this, in 2006 the power station was revealed as having the fourth highest CO2 emissions in the north of England, for producing 2,685,512 tonnes of CO2 per year. However, generally the station reduced it CO2 emissions by 65% between 1990 and 2010, and the local air quality meets UK and European standards.
Windfarms
In 2006 a proposal was made by Hawthorn Power, an offshoot of UK CoalUK Coal
UK Coal plc is the largest coal mining business in the United Kingdom. The Company is based in Harworth, in Nottinghamshire. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a former constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
, to construct three 110 m (360.9 ft) tall wind turbine
Wind turbine
A 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 on an unused part of the station's coal sorting area, north of the power station. Permission was granted for the turbines in February 2008. In July 2010, it was revealed that the project's new developer, Clipper Windpower
Clipper Windpower
Clipper Windpower is a wind turbine manufacturing company formed in 2001 by James G.P. Dehlsen, who also formed Zond in 1980. In December 2010 Clipper Windpower was acquired by United Technologies Corporation.-History:...
, would be using the site to erect the country's first super-efficient wind turbines, called Liberty Wind Turbine
Liberty Wind Turbine
The 2.5 MW Liberty Wind Turbine is the largest wind turbine manufactured in the United States. The turbine was developed through a partnership with U.S. Department of Energy and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory for Clipper Windpower....
. However this meant the height of the turbines would increase from 110 m (360.9 ft) to 130 m (426.5 ft). Each turbine would have a rating of 2.5 MW, but only three turbines would be built. The wind farm would produce enough electricity to provide power for 1,690 houses. One turbine is expected to be erected initially, while environental issues are assessed.
ScottishPower Renewables
Scottish Power
ScottishPower Ltd. is a vertically integrated energy company with its headquarters in Glasgow, Scotland. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but in 2006 it became a subsidiary of the Spanish utility Iberdrola...
also have permission to build 13 wind tubines near the alluminium smelter. They were initially refused planning permission, which they submitted in November 2006. This was because their site is spread over two council boundaries and Wansbeck Council
Wansbeck
Wansbeck was a local government district in south-east Northumberland, England. Its main population centres were Ashington, Bedlington and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea....
approved the scheme, but Castle Morpeth
Castle Morpeth
Castle Morpeth was a local government district and borough in Northumberland, England. Its administrative centre was the town of Morpeth.The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Morpeth and Morpeth Rural District, along with part of Castle Ward Rural District.The...
refused. An appeal hearing was given in April 2008, and permission was eventually granted in January 2009 for the construction of up to 13 turbines, producing 30 MW of electricity.
Future of the station
Following a visit to the station by Prime MinisterPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
on 3 July 2009, it became apparent that Rio Tinto Alcan were hoping to be able to demonstrate 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 at the station in the future. However due to the economic climate, Rio Tinto are not willing to commit the funding for the project themselves, and so are hoping to secure European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
funding available for demonstration of CCS technology. The investment required could be up to £1 billion, but if funding is secured, "pre-combustion" CCS technology would be installed. This would involve treating the coal prior to burning so that less CO2 was produced, with any remaining CO2 being pumped under 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...
into an aquifer
Aquifer
An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
. In November 2009 it was announced that a variety of energy experts were preparing for the £1 billion bid to the Government for investment. The plans include a pipeline into the North Sea, and the upgrading of one of the station's generating sets from 140 MW to around 375 MW, to safeguard the supply of electricity to the aluminium smelter.
Despite these future plans, the station and smelter's futures are under threat. The European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
(EC) claimed that Alcan is in breach of their operating license as the station has failed to "significantly reduce its emissions". The UK Government contested the allegations, as the power station and smelter combined provide 650 jobs and a contribution of £100,000,000 to the local economy, in an area heavily affected by the loss of traditional heavy industry. They lost the court case over it and on 22 April 2010, the European Court of Justice
European Court of Justice
The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...
ruled that the plant was subject to the emission limit values of the European directive on Large Combustion Plants. As a consequence, the station has to have at least £200 million worth of adaptations made to it so that it conforms to the directive, or be shut down. A date has not yet been given for it to conform, but two options for saving the station are the CCS project, or a switch from coal to biomass as a fuel.
Lynemouth's future came further under threat in March 2011, following carbon cutting measures announced in the 2011 United Kingdom budget
2011 United Kingdom budget
The 2011 United Kingdom budget, officially called 2011 Budget - A strong and stable economy, growth and fairness, was delivered by George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 23 March 2011....
. The government's plans meant that the station would cost an extra £40 million a year, erasing Rio Tinto Alcan's profits on the station. This has made the station's operators consider the option of converting the power station to operate on biomass only to avoid the penalties. However this conversion itself would cost £50 million and then using biomass instead of coal would cost an additional £170 million a year.
Cultural use and visual impact
Since its construction, the station has made appearances in a small number of films shot locally. These include:- SeacoalSeacoal (film)Seacoal is a British docudrama film about the harsh industrialised beach of Lynemouth, Northumberland, and the local residents of the Lynemouth traveller camp. The film stars many of the local travellers as themselves, and many well known north-east actors, such as Sammy Johnson.-Plot:Ray drives...
- a movie made by Amber Films in 1985. The station is features heavily as a backdrop in the beach scenes, where the characters are working, collecting seacoal. Photographer Mik Critchlow (who would later become involved with Amber Films' sister company Side Gallery) also documented the seacoalers at Lynemouth, between 1981 and 1983. He also used the power station as an industrial backdrop to some of his images. - Billy ElliotBilly ElliotBilly Elliot is a 2000 British drama film written by Lee Hall and directed by Stephen Daldry. Set in the fictional town of "Everington" in the real County Durham, UK, it stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, an aspiring dancer, Gary Lewis as his coal miner father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older...
- a 2000 film directed by Stephen DaldryStephen DaldryStephen David Daldry, CBE is an English theatre and film director and producer, as well as a three-time Academy Award nominated and Tony Award winning director.-Early years:...
. The power station and the smelter both feature as an industrial backdrop in the film's cemetery scenes. The power station's coal sorting area is used to represent a colliery.
The chimneys of both the power station and the smelter are strong landmarks on the local coastline, and can be seen over a 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) stretch of coast, from Cresswell
Cresswell, Northumberland
Cresswell is a village in Northumberland, England. It is about to the north of Ashington, on the North Sea coast.It is a popular bird watching area with Cresswell pond and bird hide nearby and the Druridge Bay Country Park less than away....
down to South Shields pier
South Shields
South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...
.
See also
- List of power stations in England
- 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...
External links
- Alcan - company's page on the station
- Flickr - a photo from Gordon Brown's visit to the station
- Lococarrige - information on Ricky TomlinsonRicky TomlinsonEric Tomlinson , known by his stage name Ricky Tomlinson, is an English actor and comedian, best known for his roles as Bobby Grant in Brookside, DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and James "Jim" Royle in The Royle Family....
's visit to the station in 1998