Report - Willington Power Station - April 2021

[Dragon_Urbex]

Been done a bajillion times, but here's my take on the Five Brothers. On the same day as I did another power station, I went and explored the remnants of another former power station: Willington Power Station. Willington A Power Station was commissioned in 1957, with Willington B coming online in 1962. Both plants had an output of 400MW, therefore totalling 800MW at peak output. The power station drew cooling water from the River Trent nearby and water was cooled in the five 330 foot tall cooling towers. Unfortunately, both the A and B station of this site have been demolished, having both closed in 1995 and 1999 respectively due to a declining efficiency (several generator sets were de-rated and made less pwoerful). All that remain, around 25 years on, are the five 100 meter high cooling towers. They are built of reinforced concrete. Two of the five towers have been stripped out ready for demolition (this happened a number of years ago now, so I doubt they're going anywhere soon), allowing amazing views into the structure. The inside echoes crazily when you stand in the very middle. Definitely eerie and surreal. Apart from the cooling towers, there’s nothing else on the site apart from some heaps of rubble and a National Grid substation that is still very much in use. I looked around four of the five towers and photographed them and had a play around with the echoing inside them.

The Explore:

Well. I got onto the site and explored them! :P

Enjoy the photos!

 

[host]

Excellent images.

 

[Calamity Jane]

Fantastic set. These are becoming very iconic.

 

[Dragon_Urbex]

Thanks, both. Yes, cooling towers are really iconic. I absolutely love them. Willington's are slightly smaller than average but even so, that doesn't detract from the impressive scale of them! Here's to hoping that they stand for many more years and might be listed.