Report - Ferrybridge C Power Station - 2016

Raz · Nov 26, 2016

Ferrybridge C power station Officially closed on the 31st of March after 50 years of electricity production. The coal-fired power station has been operated by SSE since 2004, and at its peak could meet the needs of two million people from its four 500MW units.

The West Yorkshire station began generating on February 27th 1966. It has since produced an estimated 462 Terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in its lifetime – enough to power the entire nation of France for a whole year. In May 2015 SSE took the difficult decision to close the ageing station, due to a number of factors; not least the significant losses the station was forecast to incur in the coming years.

De-synchronisation of Ferrybridge C, ie powering down of the remaining operational unit, took place on March 23rd with a special ceremony for staff in the station’s control room.

Few interesting facts from the SSE Website

On 27th February 1966 Ferrybridge ‘C’ began generating electricity for the first time. It was the first power station in Europe to have four coal-fired 500 megawatt units capable of meeting the needs of 2m people – almost double Birmingham’s population today.

Ferrybridge C quickly proved a reliable workhorse running day and night. In 1973 Unit 2 ran for eight months continuously – a record at the time. When on full load it burned 800 tonnes of fuel an hour which is three million tonnes a year. Coal arrived via 90 tonne train wagons as well as barges capable of carrying 170 tonnes of coal.

Ferrybridge C has been an iconic landmark visible from the A1 or M62 or to pilots who use the towers to guide their planes home. Its two 198m high chimneys and eight 115m high cooling towers, are the largest of their kind in Europe.