Visted with Darkzac
Wow what a place, We made the 7 hour drive to Scotland with mixed feelings weather we would succeed or not after speaking to different people about tight security, builders and demolition etc... thankfully we experienced none of this and had the place to ourselfs all we had to combat was the shocking weather, 60mph winds, rain and sleet not something us southerners are use too lol.
We spent around 9 hours at Inverkip and still didnt feel enough the site is MASSIVE and mindblowing you could spend a week inside. Absolutly loved it especially the Control room. Who did start the Money plate? I added my coppers to the pile with included mouldy scotch eggs lol.
Was well worth the trip and so glad we done it.
History
Inverkip power station is an oil-fired power station in Inverclyde, on the west coast of Scotland. It is actually located closer to Wemyss Bay than Inverkip and dominates the local area with its 778 foot (236m) chimney, the third tallest in the UK and Scotland's tallest free-standing structure.
In common with other power stations in Scotland it lacks cooling towers; instead, sea water is used as a coolant. The station consists of three generating units with a combined rating of 1900MW.
Construction began for the then South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) in 1970 of what was to be Scotland's first oil-fired power station. However, the soaring price of oil as a result of the 1973 oil crisis meant that by the time construction was completed generation was uneconomical. It was therefore rarely utilised to anything near capacity with 1200MW being mothballed and the remaining capacity being used to satisfy peak demand. A notable example of when it was used at capacity was during the miners' strike of 1984/5 when low coal supplies prompted operation. Generation ceased in January 1988.
In construction, provision was made on site for a fourth generating unit (to the north of the existing units), including a fourth stack inside the chimney. One design feature of the power station is the lack of steam driven boiler feed pumps, with units 1 and 2 being provided with three 50% electric boiler feed pumps and unit 3 with two 50% electric feed pumps. The main turbo-generator was manufactured by Parsons, and many of the major components were interchangeable with the turbo-generators at Hunterston B around 13 miles south on the Firth of Clyde, also then owned by the South of Scotland Electricity Board.
This facility is now owned by the privatised ScottishPower utility group and is maintained in a mothballed condition as part of the strategic reserve. While it is not listed by ScottishPower as being available for generation, demolition is scheduled for 2009 and the site will be cleared for housing and small business development.
Pictures
More pictures with be on my Flickr shortly
Matt
Wow what a place, We made the 7 hour drive to Scotland with mixed feelings weather we would succeed or not after speaking to different people about tight security, builders and demolition etc... thankfully we experienced none of this and had the place to ourselfs all we had to combat was the shocking weather, 60mph winds, rain and sleet not something us southerners are use too lol.
We spent around 9 hours at Inverkip and still didnt feel enough the site is MASSIVE and mindblowing you could spend a week inside. Absolutly loved it especially the Control room. Who did start the Money plate? I added my coppers to the pile with included mouldy scotch eggs lol.
Was well worth the trip and so glad we done it.
History
Inverkip power station is an oil-fired power station in Inverclyde, on the west coast of Scotland. It is actually located closer to Wemyss Bay than Inverkip and dominates the local area with its 778 foot (236m) chimney, the third tallest in the UK and Scotland's tallest free-standing structure.
In common with other power stations in Scotland it lacks cooling towers; instead, sea water is used as a coolant. The station consists of three generating units with a combined rating of 1900MW.
Construction began for the then South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) in 1970 of what was to be Scotland's first oil-fired power station. However, the soaring price of oil as a result of the 1973 oil crisis meant that by the time construction was completed generation was uneconomical. It was therefore rarely utilised to anything near capacity with 1200MW being mothballed and the remaining capacity being used to satisfy peak demand. A notable example of when it was used at capacity was during the miners' strike of 1984/5 when low coal supplies prompted operation. Generation ceased in January 1988.
In construction, provision was made on site for a fourth generating unit (to the north of the existing units), including a fourth stack inside the chimney. One design feature of the power station is the lack of steam driven boiler feed pumps, with units 1 and 2 being provided with three 50% electric boiler feed pumps and unit 3 with two 50% electric feed pumps. The main turbo-generator was manufactured by Parsons, and many of the major components were interchangeable with the turbo-generators at Hunterston B around 13 miles south on the Firth of Clyde, also then owned by the South of Scotland Electricity Board.
This facility is now owned by the privatised ScottishPower utility group and is maintained in a mothballed condition as part of the strategic reserve. While it is not listed by ScottishPower as being available for generation, demolition is scheduled for 2009 and the site will be cleared for housing and small business development.
Pictures
More pictures with be on my Flickr shortly
Matt
