Ferrybridge power stations

Ferrybridge power stations
Ferrybridge C Power Station
Viewed from the west in August 2005
Map
CountryEngland
LocationKnottingley
Coordinates53°43′03″N 1°16′50″W / 53.71740°N 1.28058°W / 53.71740; -1.28058
StatusOperational
Construction beganA station: 1926
B station: 1955[1]
C station: 1961
Multifuel 1: 2011
Multifuel 2: 2016
Commission dateA station: 1927
B station: 1957
C station: 1966
Multifuel 1: 2015[2]
Multifuel 2: 2019[3]
Decommission dateA station: 1976
B station: 1992
C station: 2016
Operators
Thermal power station
Primary fuelCoal
Secondary fuelBiomass
Tertiary fuelGas
Power generation
Nameplate capacityA station: 125 MW
B station: 300 MW
C station: 2,034 MW
Multifuel 1: 68 MW
External links
Websitewww.sse.com/Ferrybridge/
CommonsRelated media on Commons

The Ferrybridge power stations were a series of three coal-fired power stations on the River Aire near Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire, England, in operation from 1927 to 2016 on a site next to the junction of the M62 and A1(M) motorways.

The first station, Ferrybridge A, was constructed in the mid-1920s and closed in 1976. Ferrybridge B was brought into operation in the 1950s and closed in the early 1990s. In 1966, Ferrybridge C power station was opened with a generating capacity of 2 GW from four Hinton Heavies 500 MW sets; constructed by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB); on privatisation in 1989 ownership was passed to Powergen, then to Edison Mission Energy (1999), then to AEP Energy Services (American Electric Power) (2001) and to SSE plc (2004). Ferrybridge C closed in March 2016.

Two of the four units were fitted with flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) plant in 2009. In 2013 SSE indicated that the power station would not comply with the Industrial Emissions Directive, requiring the plant's closure by 2023 or earlier. It was later announced that the plant would be fully closed by March 2016.[4]

Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 is a 68 MW multi-fuel energy-from-waste plant at the site which became operational in 2015.[2] Ferrybridge Multifuel 2 is a 70 MW multi-fuel plant built alongside the MF1 plant, which became operational in 2019.[3]

On 28 July 2019, one of Ferrybridge's cooling towers was demolished,[5] followed by a further four on 13 October.[6] The main boiler house, bunker bay and two chimney stacks were demolished on 22 August 2021.[7] The final three cooling towers were demolished on 17 March 2022.[8]

  1. ^ "Building Recording of Barge Unloader and Coal Handling Plant at Ferrybridge". Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 Becomes Fully Operational". SSE Thermal. 31 July 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Ferrybridge Multifuel 2 Enters Commercial Operations". SSE Thermal. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  4. ^ "SSE to close Ferrybridge coal plant". BBC Business News. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  5. ^ "Ferrybridge cooling tower demolished". BBC News. 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Ferrybridge Power Station: Live updates as four more cooling towers are demolished". Wakefield Express. 13 October 2019. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019.
  7. ^ Withers, Laura (22 August 2021). "Live Ferrybridge Power Station demolition as M62 and surrounding roads closed". Leeds Live. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  8. ^ "Final Ferrybridge power station cooling towers demolished". BBC News. 17 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.