Rye House power station
Rye House power station | |
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Rye House Power Station | |
Country | England |
Location | Hertfordshire, East of England |
Coordinates | 51°45′45″N 0°00′39″E / 51.762466°N 0.01077°ECoordinates: 51°45′45″N 0°00′39″E / 51.762466°N 0.01077°E |
Status | Operational |
Construction began | Early 1990s |
Commission date | November 1993 |
Operator(s) | ScottishPower |
Thermal power station | |
Primary fuel | Natural gas-fired |
Tertiary fuel | Coal-fired |
Power generation | |
Nameplate capacity | 715 MW |
grid reference TL387090 |
Rye House Power Station is a 715 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station close to Rye House railway station in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.[1]
History
The current station was built on the site of an earlier coal-fired power station built in 1953 to a design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. It was closed on 1 November 1982 and had a generating capacity of 120 MW.[2]
The gas-fired station, near Hoddesdon, is about eighteen miles north of London, was built in the early 1990s and fully commissioned in November 1993 and officially opened in April 1994. Output from the station is enough to meet the daily power needs of nearly a million people - almost the population of Hertfordshire.
Rye House operates as part of ScottishPower's UK Energy Wholesale,.[3] It was acquired by ScottishPower from Powergen in January 2001 for £217m.[4]
Specification
CCGT stations use a gas turbine along with a steam turbine connected to a heat recovery steam generator to provide the most efficient form of thermal electricity generation. Rye House has three single-shaft Siemens V94.2 gas turbines (generating 150 MW each) rotating at 3000rpm and three Babcock Energy steam generators (receiving exhaust gas at 540C) connected to one 250 MW steam turbine. The plant was built by Siemens. The gas turbines have a terminal voltage of 11 kV and the steam turbine 15.75 kV, connecting to the National Grid at 400 kV. It has the largest air-cooled condenser in Europe. The chimneys are 58 m high. It employs thirty seven people.
Supplemental Balancing Reserve
In October 2014, The station was successful in winning a new contract with the National Grid as a back up energy supply for when there is a shortfall and potential risk of a Nationwide Blackout of Electricity. The contract requires the already successful Two Shifting CCGT to be fully available and fully manned between the months 1 November and 31 March. After that it would be shut down to rest for the other months of the year.
See also
References
- ↑ Rye House Power Station
- ↑ Mr. Redmond (16 January 1984). "Coal-fired Power Stations". Hansard. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
- ↑ Scottish Power-Energy wholesale Retrieved 13 December 2008
- ↑ http://www.scottishpower.com/PressReleases_562.htm
External links
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