History
Construction of Rugeley B power station began in 1964, with completion of the station in 1970. The architects were L. K. Watson and H. J. Coates. The architects coloured two of the four cooling towers a pinkish red colour to heighten what they saw as the femininity of the hyperbolic form. With both stations in operation, 850 people were employed at the stations in 1983.
The two stations were initially operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board, but following privatisation in 1990, were handed over to National Power. The Lea Hall colliery was closed on 24 January 1991, meaning all coal burned in the stations needed to be delivered by rail. Rugeley B was supplied with fuel via branch off the adjacent Cannock and Rugeley railway line, near to its connection with the West Coast Main Line. Rail facilities included a west-facing junction on the Rugeley line, A and B sidings, gross-weight and tare-weight weighbridges, a hopper house, an oil siding, a hopper bypass line and a run-round loop.
In July 1996 the Rugeley B power station was bought by Eastern Generation, itself acquired by TXU Europe. Rugeley B was subsequently sold to International Power plc in July 2001. It remains under the same ownership, though International Power later merged with GDF Suez in 2011.
Construction of a flue-gas desulfurization plant started in early 2007 and it was commissioned at the B station in 2009. This allowed the station to comply with environmental legislation in force at the time and continue generating electricity. As well as FGD, a new chimney stack was built and attached to the plant due to the original chimney having a major issue where it was rocking in high winds and a concern it was going to collapse. The original chimney was decommissioned and demolished in 2006, then the new one alongside the FGD plant was commissioned in 2009.
In March 2012 Rugeley Power Ltd announced it would be considering a conversion to run using biomass fuel. In December 2013, Rugeley Power Ltd said they have scrapped the proposed biomass conversion. In 2014, there were 146 people employed at the station.
Design and specification
The Rugeley B station used two 500 MW generating sets, which could produce 8,760,000 MWh each year. The station usually burned 1.6 million tonnes of coal a year, producing 240,000 tonnes of ash. The station's boilers produced 1,100 tonnes of steam per hour, at a temperature of 568 °C. In 1980–1 the station sent out 6,724.920 GWh, the thermal efficiency was 35.47 per cent. Rugeley B also had two gas turbine generators installed, each of 25 MW capacity, which were used for emergency unit starts or could generate direct to the grid when required. It closed in 2016, as a result of a deterioration of market conditions. 30 of the 150 staff remained to decommission the plant over three years.
The Rugeley B Station chimney was 600 ft (183m) in height, each of the four remaining cooling towers were 380 ft (114m) and main boiler/generator house was 245 ft (74m) high.
In February 2016 it was announced that the power station would close in the summer of 2016. An announcement by owners, Engie blamed a deterioration in market conditions which included a fall in market prices and increasing carbon costs. The closure resulted in the loss of 150 jobs.
Closure and demolition
Rugeley Power Station ceased all operations on Wednesday 8 June
Decommissioning began in June 2016. A total of 6 blowdown demolitions took place for the removal of the turbine hall and boiler house in several phases between November 2019 and August 2020.
The 600 ft chimney was demolished on 24 January 2021 at 8:32am.
The four cooling towers were demolished on 6 June 2021 at 11:25am.
The site of the former station is expected to become a residential area
Explore
Visited with PV over the xmas holidays, to be honest i cant remember much about this one. Even though demo was in full swing there was still plenty to see and document at the time of the visit.
On with the Photos
Construction of Rugeley B power station began in 1964, with completion of the station in 1970. The architects were L. K. Watson and H. J. Coates. The architects coloured two of the four cooling towers a pinkish red colour to heighten what they saw as the femininity of the hyperbolic form. With both stations in operation, 850 people were employed at the stations in 1983.
The two stations were initially operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board, but following privatisation in 1990, were handed over to National Power. The Lea Hall colliery was closed on 24 January 1991, meaning all coal burned in the stations needed to be delivered by rail. Rugeley B was supplied with fuel via branch off the adjacent Cannock and Rugeley railway line, near to its connection with the West Coast Main Line. Rail facilities included a west-facing junction on the Rugeley line, A and B sidings, gross-weight and tare-weight weighbridges, a hopper house, an oil siding, a hopper bypass line and a run-round loop.
In July 1996 the Rugeley B power station was bought by Eastern Generation, itself acquired by TXU Europe. Rugeley B was subsequently sold to International Power plc in July 2001. It remains under the same ownership, though International Power later merged with GDF Suez in 2011.
Construction of a flue-gas desulfurization plant started in early 2007 and it was commissioned at the B station in 2009. This allowed the station to comply with environmental legislation in force at the time and continue generating electricity. As well as FGD, a new chimney stack was built and attached to the plant due to the original chimney having a major issue where it was rocking in high winds and a concern it was going to collapse. The original chimney was decommissioned and demolished in 2006, then the new one alongside the FGD plant was commissioned in 2009.
In March 2012 Rugeley Power Ltd announced it would be considering a conversion to run using biomass fuel. In December 2013, Rugeley Power Ltd said they have scrapped the proposed biomass conversion. In 2014, there were 146 people employed at the station.
Design and specification
The Rugeley B station used two 500 MW generating sets, which could produce 8,760,000 MWh each year. The station usually burned 1.6 million tonnes of coal a year, producing 240,000 tonnes of ash. The station's boilers produced 1,100 tonnes of steam per hour, at a temperature of 568 °C. In 1980–1 the station sent out 6,724.920 GWh, the thermal efficiency was 35.47 per cent. Rugeley B also had two gas turbine generators installed, each of 25 MW capacity, which were used for emergency unit starts or could generate direct to the grid when required. It closed in 2016, as a result of a deterioration of market conditions. 30 of the 150 staff remained to decommission the plant over three years.
The Rugeley B Station chimney was 600 ft (183m) in height, each of the four remaining cooling towers were 380 ft (114m) and main boiler/generator house was 245 ft (74m) high.
In February 2016 it was announced that the power station would close in the summer of 2016. An announcement by owners, Engie blamed a deterioration in market conditions which included a fall in market prices and increasing carbon costs. The closure resulted in the loss of 150 jobs.
Closure and demolition
Rugeley Power Station ceased all operations on Wednesday 8 June
Decommissioning began in June 2016. A total of 6 blowdown demolitions took place for the removal of the turbine hall and boiler house in several phases between November 2019 and August 2020.
The 600 ft chimney was demolished on 24 January 2021 at 8:32am.
The four cooling towers were demolished on 6 June 2021 at 11:25am.
The site of the former station is expected to become a residential area
Explore
Visited with PV over the xmas holidays, to be honest i cant remember much about this one. Even though demo was in full swing there was still plenty to see and document at the time of the visit.
On with the Photos
The Control Room
Thanks for looking
