Drax power station
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| Drax power station | |
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  Drax power station shown within North Yorkshire |
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| Operator: | Drax Group plc |
| Fuel: | Coal-fired 3,945 MW |
| Commissioned: | 1974 |
Drax is a large coal-fired power station located near Selby in North Yorkshire in Northern England, providing 7% of electrical power required by Britain. It is named after the parish of Drax and is owned by Drax Group plc.
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[edit] About
The plant has six 660 MW generating units, with a maximum capacity of 3,945 MW, producing around 24 TWh (86.4 petajoules) annually. It is the largest single electricity generator in the United Kingdom, producing around 7% of total demand, and the second largest coal-fired plant in Europe after Bełchatów, in Poland. It has a maximum potential consumption of 36,000 tonnes of coal a day, it takes around 7 million to 11 million tonnes annually, supplied in part from the nearby Kellingley Colliery and in bulk from Poland. Although it generates around 1.5 million tonnes of ash and 22.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, Drax is the most carbon-efficient coal-fired powerplant in the United Kingdom[1]. All of the six generating units are equipped with the APMS control system developed by RWE npower and Thales and implemented by Capula.[2] Between 2007 and 2012 £100m is to be invested in reblading the turbines to help improve efficiency further.
[edit] History
Built by the Central Electricity Generating Board to be near the newly discovered Selby coalfields, Drax was the last coal-fired plant to be built in Britain, and was constructed in two equal-sized phases (three generating units each). The first phase began generation in 1974, and the second phase was complete by 1986. Its 259 m (850 ft) chimney is the tallest chimney in the UK.
In the privatisation and breakup of the UK power industry it was transferred to privatised generating company National Power in 1990. National Power sold Drax power station in November 1999 to AES Corporation for £1.87 billion (US$3 billion). It is now owned by the Drax Group.
[edit] Contractors
The Phase 1 civil engineering at Drax was carried out by Costain (foundations and cable tunnels), Sir Robert McAlpine (roads and anciliary buildings), Mowlem (piling), Alfred McAlpine (administration building and control building) and Balfour Beatty (general building works). The cabling for Phase 1 was carried out by James Scott.
The Phase 2 Drax Power Station completion was carried out by Tarmac Construction[3] (Drax completion civil engineering works) and Holst Civil Engineers (chimney). The cabling for phase 2 was carried out by N.G. Bailey. The switchgear was installed by Reyrolle, English Electric and South Wales Switchgear. The maintenance of temporary site electrical supplies was by T.W. Broadbent of Huddersfield. The boiler feed pumps were by Sulzer Brothers and the generator cooling water pumps by English Electric.
The boilers were made by Babcock Power Ltd and the generators by Parsons. The plant was fitted with FGD (Flue gas desulfurization) scrubbers over eight years from 1988 by Mitsui Babcock.
[edit] Environmental effects
In 2005 Drax produced 20.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. The Times reported that this is more than the amount produced by 103 small unindustrialised nations. By comparison, vehicles in the UK emitted 91 million tonnes of carbon dioxide[4]. Drax is the biggest single source of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the United Kingdom. Small particulates contained in smoke (whether from coal, waste or biomass) are widely linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
Despite widespread criticism of its carbon footprint, Drax remains a key provider of electricity to the UK. On 31 August 2006, over 600 people attended a protest against the power station called Reclaim Power, coordinated by the Camp for Climate Action in protest at the sites extremely high Carbon emissions. Thirty nine people were arrested during a protest at the plant against carbon emissions after they tried to illegally gain access to the plant. At least 3,000 police officers, from 12 forces from as far afield as Hampshire and London, were reported to have been drafted in for the duration of the protest[5].
The solid wastes (Furnace Bottom Ash, pulverised fuel ash PFA and FGD gypsum) from Drax is either sold, or disposed of on site. This has resulted in the Barlow Ash mound, the largest PFA disposal mound in Europe, approaching 1km long by 30m high. This has been restored to woodland and grazing, and forms a natural-looking hill found to be good burrowing by badgers and rabbits - the latter can be a serious nuisance and need controlling. There were some experimental PFA/FGD gypsum mounds nearby that developed an extensive colony of early marsh orchids - a few of these survive on a specially created PFA mini-mound west of the main Barlow mound.
[edit] See also
- List of tallest buildings and structures in Great Britain
- Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
- Energy policy of the United Kingdom
- APMS: Advanced Plant Management System
[edit] References
- ^ Drax Group website
- ^ For more information, see Advanced Plant Management System or the external APMS website.
- ^ Berry Ritchie, The Story of Tarmac Page 100, Published by James & James (Publishers) Ltd, 1999
- ^ Times article
- ^ Independent article
