Drax
Encyclopedia
Drax is a large coal-fired
power station
in North Yorkshire
, England
, capable of co-firing biomass
and petcoke. It is situated near the River Ouse
between Selby
and Goole
, and its name comes from the nearby village of Drax
. Its generating capacity of 3,960 megawatts is the highest of any power station in the United Kingdom and Western Europe, providing about 7% of the United Kingdom's electricity supply.
Opened in 1974 and extended in the mid-1980s, the station was initially operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board, but since privatisation in 1990 the station has changed owner several times, and is currently operated by Drax Group plc
. Completed in 1986, Drax is the most recently built coal-fired power station in England, and by implementing technologies such as flue gas desulphurisation, is one of the cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power stations in the UK. However, because of its large size, it is also the UK's single largest emitter of carbon dioxide
. In an attempt to reduce these emissions, the station is currently co-firing biomass and undergoing a turbine refurbishment, and there are plans to build a biomass only fired plant alongside the station, known as Drax Ouse Renewable Energy Plant
.
, a new station at Eggborough
, and the power station at Drax. The station at Drax, near Selby
was constructed on the site of Wood House.
constructed the station's foundations and cable tunnels; Sir Robert McAlpine
laid the roads in and about the station, as well as building the ancillary buildings; Mowlem
laid the deep foundation
s; Alfred McAlpine
built the administration and control
buildings; Balfour Beatty
undertook general building works and James Scott installed cabling. Although the first phase was not completed until 1975, the station's first generating set began generating electricity in 1974.
The second phase of construction began several years later in 1985. Tarmac Construction undertook the civil engineering
works; Holst Civil Engineers
built the chimney
; N.G. Bailey installed cabling; Reyrolle
, English Electric
and South Wales Switchgear produced and installed the station's switchgear
, English Electric also manufactured the generator cooling water pumps; T.W. Broadbent maintained the site's temporary electrical supplies, and the Sulzer Brothers manufactured the boiler feed pumps
. This second and final phase was completed in 1986. In both stages the boiler
s were made by Babcock Power Ltd
and the generators by C. A. Parsons and Company
. Following the completion of the station, Mitsui Babcock fitted flue gas desulfurization
(FGD) equipment at the station between 1988 to 1995.
in 1990, the operation of Drax Power Station was transferred from the Central Electricity Generating Board to the privatised generating company National Power
. They sold it on to the AES Corporation
in November 1999 for £1.87 billion (US$3 billion). AES relinquished ownership of the station in August 2003, after falling into £1.3 billion of debt. Independent directors continued the operation of the station to ensure security of supply. In December 2005, after refinancing, ownership passed to the Drax Group
.
On 15 May 2009, the company lost its investment grade status and was downgraded to 'junk' status by Standard and Poor's.
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The station's main buildings are of steel frame
and metal clad
construction. The main features of the station consists of a turbine hall
, a boiler house
, a chimney
and twelve cooling tower
s. The station's boiler house is 76 m (249.3 ft) high, and the turbine hall is 400 m (1,312.3 ft) long. The reinforced concrete
chimney stands at 259 metres (849.7 ft) high, with a diameter of 9.1 metres (29.9 ft), and weighs 44,000 tonnes. It consists of three flues, each serving two of the station's six boilers. When finished, the chimney was the largest industrial chimney in the world, and is still the tallest in the United Kingdom. The twelve 114 metres (374 ft) high natural draft
cooling tower
s stand in two groups of six to the north and south of the station. They are made of reinforced concrete, in the typical hyperboloid
design, and each have a base diameter of 92 m (301.8 ft). Other facilities on the site include a coal storage area, flue gas desulphurisation plant and gypsum
handling facilities.
Drax power station is the second largest coal-fired power station in Europe
, after Bełchatów Power Station in Poland. Drax produces around 24 terawatt-hours
(TWh) (86.4 petajoules) of electricity annually. Although it generates around 1,500,000 tonnes of ash and 22,800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide
each year, Drax is the most carbon-efficient coal-fired powerplant in the United Kingdom.
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The station has a maximum potential consumption of 36,000 tonnes of coal a day. Per year, this equates to around 9 million tonnes. This coal comes from a mixture of both domestic and international sources, with domestic coal coming from mines in Yorkshire
, the Midlands
and Scotland
, and foreign supplies coming from Australia
, Colombia
, Poland
, Russia
and South Africa
.
When the station first opened, the majority of the coal burned there was taken from various local collieries in Yorkshire. These collieries included: Kellingley
, Prince of Wales, Ackton Hall
, Sharlston
, Fryston
, Askern
and Bentley
. However, since the miners' strike
in the mid-1980s, all but one of these mines have shut, with the pit at Kellingley being the only one of these still open. UK Coal
had a five year contract to supply the station with coal. This contract ended at the end of 2009. They supply the station with coal from Kellingley, Maltby
and, until its closure in 2007, Rossington
. Coal was also brought to the station from Harworth Colliery
until it was mothballed, and is still supplied by Daw Mill
in Warwickshire
.
The foreign coal is brought to the station via various ports in the UK, and it is taken from these ports to the power station by railway
. GB Railfreight
have a contract with Drax Group to move coal brought to Port of Tyne
to the power station. This contract has been celebrated by the company naming one of their locomotive
s Drax Power Station. DB Schenker Rail (UK)
haul coal to the station from the nearby ports of Hull
and Immingham
, and from Hunterston Terminal
on the west coast of Scotland
. Freightliner Group move coal imported through Redcar
.
All of the coal is delivered to the station by train. Trains reach the station using a 7.2 km (4.5 mi) long freight only section of the closed Hull and Barnsley Railway
, which branches away from the Pontefract Line
at Hensall Junction. A balloon loop
rail layout is used at the station so that wagons of coal do not need to be shunted after being unloaded. Merry-go-round train
s are used, so that wagons can be unloaded without the train stopping, as it passes through an unloading house. On average, there are 35 deliveries a day, 6 days a week.
boilers, each weighing 4,000 tonnes. The powdered coal from ten pulverizers is blasted into each boiler through burners, which are ignited by propane
. In 2003 the original burners were replaced by low nitrogen oxide
burners. Each of the six boilers feed steam to a steam turbine
set. Each steam turbine consists of one high pressure (HP) turbine, one intermediate pressure (IP) turbine and three low pressure (LP) turbines. The HP turbines generate at 140 megawatts (MW). Exhaust steam from them is fed back to the boiler and reheated, then fed to the 250 MW IP turbines and finally passes through the 90 MW LP turbines. This gives each generating set a generating capacity of 660 MW, and with six generating sets, the station has a total capacity of 3,960 MW. Each of the generating units is equipped with the Advanced Plant Management System
(APMS), a system developed by RWE npower
and Thales
, and implemented by Capula.
The station also has six gas turbine
s installed. These standby turbines provide backup for breakdowns, or shut downs in the National Grid. Their annual output is generally low, generating 75 MW. and three of the units have been mothballed and are out of operation, but they could be refurbished. Emissions from these units are released through the stations second, smaller chimney, to the south of the main stack.
, as water is heated to create steam to turn the steam turbines. Water used in the boilers is taken from two licensed boreholes on-site. Once this water has been through the turbines it is cooled using condensers. Water for these condensers is taken from the nearby River Ouse
. Water is pumped from the river to the power station by a pumphouse on the river, north of the station. Once it has been through the condenser, the water is cooled by one of the station's natural draft cooling tower
s, with two towers serving each generating set. Once cooled, the water is discharged back into the river.
slurry, which removes at least 90% of the sulphur dioxide (SO2) in the gasses. This is equivalent to removing over 250,000 tonnes of SO2 from the station's emissions each year. The process requires 10,000 tonnes of limestone a week. This limestone is sourced from Tunstead Quarry in Derbyshire
. A byproduct of the process is gypsum
, and 15,000 tonnes of it is produced by the station each week. This goes to be used in the manufacture of plasterboard. The gypsum is sold exclusively to British Gypsum
, and it is transported by rail to their plants at Kirkby Thore
(on the Settle-Carlisle Railway
), East Leake
(on the Great Central Main Line
) and occasionally to Robertsbridge
(on the Hastings Line
). DB Schenker transport the gypsum to the plants.
(PFA) and furnace bottom ash
(FBA) are two byproducts made through the burning of coal. Each year, the station produces about 1,000,000 tonnes of PFA and around 220,000 tonnes of FBA. Most of this ash is sold on, with all FBA and 85% of PFA being sold. Under the trade name Drax Ash Products, the sold ash is sold to the local building industry, where it is used in the manufacture of blocks, cement
products, grout
ing and the laying of roads. The ash is also used in other parts of the country. Between 2005 and 2007, PFA was used as an infill at four disused salt mine
s in Northwich
in Cheshire
. 1,100,000 tonnes of PFA was used in the project, which was to avoid a future risk of subsidence in the town. Ash was delivered to the salt mines by DB Schenker in ten trains a week, each carrying 1,100 tonnes of PFA. Following a trial in January 2010, PFA is also transported to Waterford
in Ireland
by boat. One ship a month will transport 1,200 tonnes of PFA from the station to Ireland for the manufacture of construction materials. This will replace 480 lorry journeys annually and is deemed more environmentally friendly.
The unsold PFA is sent by conveyor belt
to the Barlow
ash mound, which is used for disposal and temporary stockpile. Three conveyors feed the mound, with a total capacity of delivering 750 tonnes of PFA an hour. Some FGD gypsum is disposed of on the mound, if it is not of a high enough grade to be sold on. The mound itself is notable as it has won a number of awards for its nature conservation work.
and petroleum coke
('petcoke').
was locally sourced from nearby Eggborough
. Since the trial, the station's use of biomass has continued. The station uses direct injection for firing the biomass, whereby it bypasses the station's pulverising mills and is either injected directly into the boiler or the fuel line, for greater throughput of biomass. The station's use of biomass has continued to increase and a target has been set for 12.5% of the station's energy to be sourced from biomass. This will contribute to the station's aim to cut its CO2 emissions by 15%. The station burns a large range of biomass fuels, but among them, the most used are wood pellets, sunflower pellets
, olive
, peanut shell husk
and rape meal
. The majority of the station's biomass comes from overseas.
(EA) granted permission for the trial in June 2004, despite the plans being opposed by Friends of the Earth
and Selby Council
. To meet their concerns, the station's emissions were constantly monitored through the trial, and they were not allowed to burn petcoke without operating the FGD plant to remove the high sulphur content of the fuel's emissions. The trial proved that there were no significant negative effects on the environment, and so in late 2007, Drax Group applied to move from trial conditions to commercial burn. The EA granted permission in early 2008 after agreeing with Drax's findings that the fuel had no significant negative effects on the environment. The station can now burn up to 300,000 tonnes of the fuel a year, and stock anything up to 6,000 tonnes of the material on site.
burning are well documented, the most significant of which is global warming
, caused by the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the Earth's atmosphere. Coal is considered to be "easily the most carbon-intensive and polluting form of energy generation available". In 2007 Drax produced 22,160,000 tonnes of CO2, making it the largest single source of CO2 in the UK. Between 2000 and 2007, there has been a net increase in carbon dioxide CO2 of over 3,000,000 tonnes. Drax power station also has the highest estimated emissions of nitrogen oxide
(NOx) in the European Union
.
In 2007, in a move to try to lower the station's CO2 emissions, Drax Group signed a £100 million contract with Siemens Power Generation
to re-blade the station's steam turbines over the course of four years. This is the largest steam turbine modernisation ever undertaken in the UK, and will increase the station's efficiency. This, coupled with the co-firing of biomass
, is part of a target to reduce the station's CO2 emissions by 15% by 2011.
group. At least 3,000 police officers from 12 forces were reported to have been drafted in for the duration of the protest, to safeguard electricity supplies and prevent the protesters from shutting the station down. Thirty-nine people were arrested during the protest after trying illegally to gain access to the plant.
and waving red flag
s. Stopping the train on a bridge crossing the River Aire
, they scaled the wagons with the aid of the bridge's girders. They then mounted a banner reading "Leave it in the ground" to the side of the wagon and tied the train to the bridge, preventing it moving. They then shovelled more than 20 tonnes of coal on to the railway line. The protest lasted the whole day, until several protesters were removed from the train by police that night. The station's management said that the protest had no effect on power station's output. The action was also coordinated by Camp for Climate Action.
in Lincolnshire
where 51 workers had been laid off while another employer on the site was employing. A spokeswoman said the strike did not affect the station's electricity output.
have applied for planning permission to build a new 300 MW power station, fuelled entirely by biomass, to the north of the current power station site. The Ouse Renewable Energy Plant is expected to burn 1,400,000 tonnes of biomass each year, saving 1,850,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum. If the plans go ahead, 850 construction jobs will be created and 150 permanent jobs created once opened through direct and contract employment. Plans were submitted for review by the Department of Energy and Climate Change
in July 2009. If planning permission is granted, construction may begin in late 2010 and is expected to last up to three and a half years. Two other similar plants are planned by Drax at the ports of Hull
and Immingham
.
Ed Miliband
announced that all UK coal-fired power stations may be fitted with carbon capture and storage
(CCS) technology by the early 2020s or face closure. Due to the outcome of the 2010 general election, it is unclear if this remains government policy. Drax currently has made no statement on the viability of CCS technology at the power station. If it was necessary to install CCS technology at Drax, it would require the construction of new turbines and boilers, and a secure way of transporting CO2 emissions 64 km (39.8 mi) to the Yorkshire coast. Drax Power Limited are sponsoring development studies into the technology and its application.
announced plans to build a twelve turbine wind farm
near the power station. Known as the Rusholme wind farm, each of the turbine's hubs will stand at 60 m (196.9 ft), with 40 m (131.2 ft) blades, giving them each a total height of 100 m (328.1 ft).
Fossil fuel power plant
A fossil-fuel power station is a power station that burns fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum to produce electricity. Central station fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation...
power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
in North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, capable of co-firing biomass
Biomass
Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....
and petcoke. It is situated near the River Ouse
River Ouse, Yorkshire
The River Ouse is a river in North Yorkshire, England. The river is formed from the River Ure at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about 6 miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure...
between Selby
Selby
Selby is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Situated south of the city of York, along the course of the River Ouse, Selby is the largest and, with a population of 13,012, most populous settlement of the wider Selby local government district.Historically a part of the West Riding...
and Goole
Goole
Goole is a town, civil parish and port located approximately inland on the confluence of the rivers Don and Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England...
, and its name comes from the nearby village of Drax
Drax, North Yorkshire
Drax is a village and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, about south-east of Selby, best known today as the site of Drax power station. The village has a Community Primary School and a public house, the Huntsmans Arms. It formerly had a village shop and sub-post office...
. Its generating capacity of 3,960 megawatts is the highest of any power station in the United Kingdom and Western Europe, providing about 7% of the United Kingdom's electricity supply.
Opened in 1974 and extended in the mid-1980s, the station was initially operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board, but since privatisation in 1990 the station has changed owner several times, and is currently operated by Drax Group plc
Drax Group
Drax Group plc is a British electrical power generation company. The company's principal subsidiary is Drax Power Limited, owner of the Drax power station near Selby in North Yorkshire, the largest coal-fired power station in Europe which supplies about 7% of UK electrical consumption...
. Completed in 1986, Drax is the most recently built coal-fired power station in England, and by implementing technologies such as flue gas desulphurisation, is one of the cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power stations in the UK. However, because of its large size, it is also the UK's single largest emitter of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
. In an attempt to reduce these emissions, the station is currently co-firing biomass and undergoing a turbine refurbishment, and there are plans to build a biomass only fired plant alongside the station, known as Drax Ouse Renewable Energy Plant
Drax Ouse Renewable Energy Plant
Drax Ouse Renewable Energy Plant is one of the three proposed 300 MW biomass-fired renewable energy plants in the United Kingdom, which is developed by Drax Power Limited and Siemens Power Ventures GmbH...
.
History
After the Selby Coalfield was discovered in 1967 the Central Electricity Generating Board built three large power stations to utilise its coal. These were an expansion of the station at FerrybridgeFerrybridge power station
The Ferrybridge power stations refers to a series of three coal-fired power stations situated on the River Aire in West Yorkshire, England. The first station on the site, Ferrybridge A power station, was constructed in the mid-1920s, and was closed as the second station, Ferrybridge B power...
, a new station at Eggborough
Eggborough Power Station
Eggborough Power Station is a large coal-fired power station in North Yorkshire, England, capable of co-firing biomass. It is siuated on the River Aire, between the towns of Knottingley and Snaith, deriving its name from the nearby village of Eggborough...
, and the power station at Drax. The station at Drax, near Selby
Selby
Selby is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Situated south of the city of York, along the course of the River Ouse, Selby is the largest and, with a population of 13,012, most populous settlement of the wider Selby local government district.Historically a part of the West Riding...
was constructed on the site of Wood House.
Construction
Drax power station was constructed in two similar phases, each of three generating units. The first phase of construction, was begun in from 1973. CostainCostain Group
Costain Group plc is a British construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Maidenhead. It was part of the original Channel Tunnel consortium and is involved in Private Finance Initiative projects.-History:...
constructed the station's foundations and cable tunnels; Sir Robert McAlpine
Sir Robert McAlpine
Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd. is a private British company headquartered in London. It carries out engineering and construction for the oil and gas, petrochemical, power generation, nuclear, pharmaceutical, defence, chemical, water and mining industries.-History:...
laid the roads in and about the station, as well as building the ancillary buildings; Mowlem
Mowlem
Mowlem was one of the largest construction and civil engineering companies in the United Kingdom. Carillion bought the firm in 2006.-History:Founded by John Mowlem in 1822, the company was awarded a Royal Warrant in 1902 and went public on the London Stock Exchange in 1924. It acquired SGB Group in...
laid the deep foundation
Deep foundation
A deep foundation is a type of foundation distinguished from shallow foundations by the depth they are embedded into the ground. There are many reasons a geotechnical engineer would recommend a deep foundation over a shallow foundation, but some of the common reasons are very large design loads, a...
s; Alfred McAlpine
Alfred McAlpine
Alfred McAlpine plc was a British construction firm headquartered in London. It was a major road builder, and constructed over 10% of Britain's motorways, including the M6 Toll...
built the administration and control
Control room
A control room is a room serving as an operations centre where a facility or service can be monitored and controlled. Examples include:*in television production, the master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations, television networks...
buildings; Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty plc is a British construction, engineering, military housing, rail and investment services company. It is one of the largest construction companies in the UK, and the 15th largest in the world...
undertook general building works and James Scott installed cabling. Although the first phase was not completed until 1975, the station's first generating set began generating electricity in 1974.
The second phase of construction began several years later in 1985. Tarmac Construction undertook the civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
works; Holst Civil Engineers
VINCI
Vinci is a French concessions and construction company, formerly called Société Générale d'Enterprises. It employs over 179,000 people and is the largest construction company in the world by revenue. Vinci is listed at Euronext's Paris stock exchange and is a member of the CAC 40 index...
built the chimney
Flue gas stack
A flue-gas stack is a type of chimney, a vertical pipe, channel or similar structure through which combustion product gases called flue gases are exhausted to the outside air. Flue gases are produced when coal, oil, natural gas, wood or any other fuel is combusted in an industrial furnace, a power...
; N.G. Bailey installed cabling; Reyrolle
A. Reyrolle & Company
A. Reyrolle & Company was a British engineering firm, which for many years was one of the largest employers on Tyneside.-History:The company was founded by Alphonse Constant Reyrolle, a Frenchman, in 1886 at Fitzroy Square in London to produce scientific instruments. He moved the business to...
, English Electric
English Electric
English Electric was a British industrial manufacturer. Founded in 1918, it initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers...
and South Wales Switchgear produced and installed the station's switchgear
Switchgear
The term switchgear, used in association with the electric power system, or grid, refers to the combination of electrical disconnects, fuses and/or circuit breakers used to isolate electrical equipment. Switchgear is used both to de-energize equipment to allow work to be done and to clear faults...
, English Electric also manufactured the generator cooling water pumps; T.W. Broadbent maintained the site's temporary electrical supplies, and the Sulzer Brothers manufactured the boiler feed pumps
Boiler feedwater pump
A boiler feedwater pump is a specific type of pump used to pump feedwater into a steam boiler. The water may be freshly supplied or returning condensate produced as a result of the condensation of the steam produced by the boiler...
. This second and final phase was completed in 1986. In both stages the boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
s were made by Babcock Power Ltd
Babcock International Group
Babcock International Group plc is a British-based support services company specialising in managing complex assets and infrastructure in safety-critical and mission-critical environments. Although the company has civil contracts, its main business is with public bodies, particularly the UK...
and the generators by C. A. Parsons and Company
C. A. Parsons and Company
C. A. Parsons and Company was a British engineering firm which was once one of the largest employers on Tyneside.-History:The Company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1889 to produce turbo-generators, his own invention. At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the company was producing...
. Following the completion of the station, Mitsui Babcock fitted flue gas desulfurization
Flue gas desulfurization
Sulfur dioxide is one of the elements forming acid rain. Tall flue-gas stacks disperse emissions by diluting the pollutants in ambient air and transporting them to other regions....
(FGD) equipment at the station between 1988 to 1995.
Post-privatisation
On privatisation of the UK's electric supply industryElectrical power industry
The electric power industry provides the production and delivery of electric energy, often known as power, or electricity, in sufficient quantities to areas that need electricity through a grid connection. The grid distributes electrical energy to customers...
in 1990, the operation of Drax Power Station was transferred from the Central Electricity Generating Board to the privatised generating company National Power
National Power
- History :National Power was formed following the privatisation of the UK electricity market in 1990. In England and Wales the Central Electricity Generating Board, which was responsible for the generation and transmission of electricity was split into three generating companies Powergen, National...
. They sold it on to the AES Corporation
AES Corporation
AES Corporation is a Fortune 500 company that generates and distributes electrical power. The company was founded on January 28, 1981, as Applied Energy Services by Roger Sant from the US Federal Energy Administration and Dennis Bakke from the Office of Management and Budget. AES Corporation is...
in November 1999 for £1.87 billion (US$3 billion). AES relinquished ownership of the station in August 2003, after falling into £1.3 billion of debt. Independent directors continued the operation of the station to ensure security of supply. In December 2005, after refinancing, ownership passed to the Drax Group
Drax Group
Drax Group plc is a British electrical power generation company. The company's principal subsidiary is Drax Power Limited, owner of the Drax power station near Selby in North Yorkshire, the largest coal-fired power station in Europe which supplies about 7% of UK electrical consumption...
.
On 15 May 2009, the company lost its investment grade status and was downgraded to 'junk' status by Standard and Poor's.
Design and specification
Steel frame
Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal -beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame...
and metal clad
Cladding (construction)
Cladding is the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer intended to control the infiltration of weather elements, or for aesthetic purposes....
construction. The main features of the station consists of a turbine hall
Turbine Hall
The turbine hall, generating hall or turbine building is a building that is a part of any steam cycle or hydroelectric power plant which houses a number of components vital to the generation of electricity from the steam that comes from the boiler, or from the water coming from the reservoir...
, a boiler house
Mechanical room
A mechanical room or a boiler room is a room or space in a building dedicated to the mechanical equipment and its associated electrical equipment. Unless a building is served by a centralized heating plant, the size of the mechanical room is usually proportional to the size of the building...
, a chimney
Flue gas stack
A flue-gas stack is a type of chimney, a vertical pipe, channel or similar structure through which combustion product gases called flue gases are exhausted to the outside air. Flue gases are produced when coal, oil, natural gas, wood or any other fuel is combusted in an industrial furnace, a power...
and twelve cooling tower
Cooling tower
Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers rely...
s. The station's boiler house is 76 m (249.3 ft) high, and the turbine hall is 400 m (1,312.3 ft) long. The reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
chimney stands at 259 metres (849.7 ft) high, with a diameter of 9.1 metres (29.9 ft), and weighs 44,000 tonnes. It consists of three flues, each serving two of the station's six boilers. When finished, the chimney was the largest industrial chimney in the world, and is still the tallest in the United Kingdom. The twelve 114 metres (374 ft) high natural draft
Stack effect
Stack effect is the movement of air into and out of buildings, chimneys, flue gas stacks, or other containers, and is driven by buoyancy. Buoyancy occurs due to a difference in indoor-to-outdoor air density resulting from temperature and moisture differences. The result is either a positive or...
cooling tower
Cooling tower
Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers rely...
s stand in two groups of six to the north and south of the station. They are made of reinforced concrete, in the typical hyperboloid
Hyperboloid structure
Hyperboloid structures are architectural structures designed with hyperboloid geometry. Often these are tall structures such as towers where the hyperboloid geometry's structural strength is used to support an object high off the ground, but hyperboloid geometry is also often used for decorative...
design, and each have a base diameter of 92 m (301.8 ft). Other facilities on the site include a coal storage area, flue gas desulphurisation plant and gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
handling facilities.
Drax power station is the second largest coal-fired power station in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, after Bełchatów Power Station in Poland. Drax produces around 24 terawatt-hours
Watt-hour
The kilowatt hour, or kilowatt-hour, is a unit of energy equal to 1000 watt hours or 3.6 megajoules.For constant power, energy in watt hours is the product of power in watts and time in hours...
(TWh) (86.4 petajoules) of electricity annually. Although it generates around 1,500,000 tonnes of ash and 22,800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
each year, Drax is the most carbon-efficient coal-fired powerplant in the United Kingdom.
Coal supply and transport
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and foreign supplies coming from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
When the station first opened, the majority of the coal burned there was taken from various local collieries in Yorkshire. These collieries included: Kellingley
Kellingley Colliery
Kellingley Colliery is one of the newest of the few deep coal mines left in Britain today. It is situated at Beal in North Yorkshire, about east of Knottingley in West Yorkshire, on the A645, although the postal address is Knottingley, West Yorkshire, and east of Ferrybridge power station. The...
, Prince of Wales, Ackton Hall
Featherstone
Featherstone is a town and civil parish in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. It lies south-west of Pontefract and has a population of 14,175.Featherstone railway station is on the Pontefract Line.-History:...
, Sharlston
Sharlston, West Yorkshire
Sharlston is a village and civil parish situated east of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, and includes the settlements of Old Sharlston, Sharlston Common and New Sharlston. Its population at the 2001 census was 2,756...
, Fryston
Fryston village
Fryston village is a small ex coal mining village in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. The coal mine was named Fryston and closed in 1985.The land on which the mine was situated remains although all buildings have been demolished, leaving only the concrete bases.The village itself remains...
, Askern
Askern
Askern is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is on the A19 road between Doncaster and Selby. It became a spa town in the late 19th century, but this stopped once coal mines opened in the town. The last mine closed in the 1990s...
and Bentley
Bentley, South Yorkshire
Bentley is a village in South Yorkshire, England two miles north of the town of Doncaster.The village was once owned by Edmund Hastings of Plumtree, Nottinghamshire, who had inherited it from his wife Copley's Sprotborough family...
. However, since the miners' strike
UK miners' strike (1984–1985)
The UK miners' strike was a major industrial action affecting the British coal industry. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the British trades union movement...
in the mid-1980s, all but one of these mines have shut, with the pit at Kellingley being the only one of these still open. UK Coal
UK Coal
UK Coal plc is the largest coal mining business in the United Kingdom. The Company is based in Harworth, in Nottinghamshire. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a former constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
had a five year contract to supply the station with coal. This contract ended at the end of 2009. They supply the station with coal from Kellingley, Maltby
Maltby Main Colliery
Maltby Main Colliery is a coal mine situated on the eastern edge of the township of Maltby, South Yorkshire, some 7 miles east of Rotherham. It is presently the only colliery in production in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham.-History:...
and, until its closure in 2007, Rossington
Rossington
Rossington is a civil parish and former mining village in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England and is surrounded by countryside and the market towns of Bawtry and Tickhill.-Geography:...
. Coal was also brought to the station from Harworth Colliery
Harworth Colliery
Harworth Colliery is a mothballed coal mine in the Bassetlaw area of north Nottinghamshire. It has recently been abandoned due to troubles at the seam...
until it was mothballed, and is still supplied by Daw Mill
Daw Mill
Daw Mill is a coal mine located near the village of Arley in the English county of Warwickshire. The mine is Britain's biggest coal producer, mining a five-metre thick section of the Warwickshire Coalfield in the north of the county...
in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
.
The foreign coal is brought to the station via various ports in the UK, and it is taken from these ports to the power station by railway
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
. GB Railfreight
GB Railfreight
GB Railfreight is a British freight train operating company. Formerly called First GBRf, its new owner Eurotunnel bought the company in May 2010.-History:...
have a contract with Drax Group to move coal brought to Port of Tyne
Port of Tyne
The Port of Tyne comprises the commercial docks in and around the River Tyne in Tyne and Wear in the north east of England.- History :There has been a port on the Tyne at least since the Romans used their settlement of Arbeia to supply the garrison of Hadrian's Wall...
to the power station. This contract has been celebrated by the company naming one of their locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s Drax Power Station. DB Schenker Rail (UK)
DB Schenker Rail (UK)
DB Schenker Rail , before 2009 known as English, Welsh and Scottish Railway is a British rail freight company. EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation in 1996 by acquisition of five of the six freight companies created by the privatisation of British...
haul coal to the station from the nearby ports of Hull
Port of Hull
The Port of Hull is a trading port located at the confluence of the River Hull and the Humber Estuary in the city of Kingston upon Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Seaborne trade can be traced to at least the 13th century...
and Immingham
Immingham
Immingham is a town in North East Lincolnshire, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary...
, and from Hunterston Terminal
Hunterston Terminal
Hunterston Terminal, in North Ayrshire, Scotland, is a coal-handling port located at Fairlie on the Firth of Clyde, and operated by Clydeport. It lies adjacent to Hunterston estate, site of Hunterston Castle....
on the west coast of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Freightliner Group move coal imported through Redcar
Teesport
Teesport is a large sea port located in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire in north east England...
.
All of the coal is delivered to the station by train. Trains reach the station using a 7.2 km (4.5 mi) long freight only section of the closed Hull and Barnsley Railway
Hull and Barnsley Railway
The Hull Barnsley & West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company was opened on 20 July 1885. It had a total projected length of 66 miles but never reached Barnsley, stopping a few miles short at Stairfoot. The name was changed to The Hull and Barnsley Railway in 1905...
, which branches away from the Pontefract Line
Pontefract Line
The Pontefract Line is the name given to one of the rail services in the West Yorkshire Metro area of northern England. The service is operated by Northern Rail, and links Wakefield and Leeds with Goole via Pontefract...
at Hensall Junction. A balloon loop
Balloon loop
A balloon loop or turning loop allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to shunt or even stop. Balloon loops can be useful for passenger trains and unit freight trains, such as coal trains....
rail layout is used at the station so that wagons of coal do not need to be shunted after being unloaded. Merry-go-round train
Merry-go-round train
A Merry-go-round train, often abbreviated to MGR, is a block train of hopper wagons which both loads and unloads its cargo while moving. In the United Kingdom, they are most commonly coal trains delivering to power stations...
s are used, so that wagons can be unloaded without the train stopping, as it passes through an unloading house. On average, there are 35 deliveries a day, 6 days a week.
Electricity generation
Coal is fed into one of thirty coal bunkers, each with a capacity of 1,000 tonnes of coal. Each bunker feeds two of the station's sixty pulverisers, each of which can crush 36 tonnes of coal an hour. The station has six Babcock PowerBabcock International Group
Babcock International Group plc is a British-based support services company specialising in managing complex assets and infrastructure in safety-critical and mission-critical environments. Although the company has civil contracts, its main business is with public bodies, particularly the UK...
boilers, each weighing 4,000 tonnes. The powdered coal from ten pulverizers is blasted into each boiler through burners, which are ignited by propane
Propane
Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...
. In 2003 the original burners were replaced by low nitrogen oxide
Nitrogen oxide
Nitrogen oxide can refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds:* Nitric oxide, also known as nitrogen monoxide, , nitrogen oxide* Nitrogen dioxide , nitrogen oxide...
burners. Each of the six boilers feed steam to a steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
set. Each steam turbine consists of one high pressure (HP) turbine, one intermediate pressure (IP) turbine and three low pressure (LP) turbines. The HP turbines generate at 140 megawatts (MW). Exhaust steam from them is fed back to the boiler and reheated, then fed to the 250 MW IP turbines and finally passes through the 90 MW LP turbines. This gives each generating set a generating capacity of 660 MW, and with six generating sets, the station has a total capacity of 3,960 MW. Each of the generating units is equipped with the Advanced Plant Management System
Advanced Plant Management System
The Advanced Plant Management System is a SCADA solution developed in partnership by RWE npower and Thales UK.Based on a real-time application platform, APMS is a monitoring and control system for any large industrial process...
(APMS), a system developed by RWE npower
Npower (UK)
RWE Npower plc is a UK-based electricity and gas supply generation company, formerly known as Innogy plc. As Innogy plc it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...
and Thales
Thales Group
The Thales Group is a French electronics company delivering information systems and services for the aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets...
, and implemented by Capula.
The station also has six gas turbine
Gas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....
s installed. These standby turbines provide backup for breakdowns, or shut downs in the National Grid. Their annual output is generally low, generating 75 MW. and three of the units have been mothballed and are out of operation, but they could be refurbished. Emissions from these units are released through the stations second, smaller chimney, to the south of the main stack.
Cooling system
Water is essential to a thermal power stationThermal power station
A thermal power station is a power plant in which the prime mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated; this...
, as water is heated to create steam to turn the steam turbines. Water used in the boilers is taken from two licensed boreholes on-site. Once this water has been through the turbines it is cooled using condensers. Water for these condensers is taken from the nearby River Ouse
River Ouse, Yorkshire
The River Ouse is a river in North Yorkshire, England. The river is formed from the River Ure at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about 6 miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure...
. Water is pumped from the river to the power station by a pumphouse on the river, north of the station. Once it has been through the condenser, the water is cooled by one of the station's natural draft cooling tower
Cooling tower
Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers rely...
s, with two towers serving each generating set. Once cooled, the water is discharged back into the river.
Flue gas desulphurisation
All six units are served by independent wet limestone-gypsum flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) plant, which was installed between 1988 and 1996. This diverts gasses from the boilers and passes them through a limestoneLimestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
slurry, which removes at least 90% of the sulphur dioxide (SO2) in the gasses. This is equivalent to removing over 250,000 tonnes of SO2 from the station's emissions each year. The process requires 10,000 tonnes of limestone a week. This limestone is sourced from Tunstead Quarry in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
. A byproduct of the process is gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
, and 15,000 tonnes of it is produced by the station each week. This goes to be used in the manufacture of plasterboard. The gypsum is sold exclusively to British Gypsum
BPB plc
BPB plc is a British building materials business: it is the world's largest manufacturer of plasterboard. It once was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...
, and it is transported by rail to their plants at Kirkby Thore
Kirkby Thore
Kirkby Thore is a small village, civil parish and hill in Cumbria, England at .It is close to the Lake District national park and the Cumbrian Pennines...
(on the Settle-Carlisle Railway
Settle-Carlisle Railway
The Settle–Carlisle Line is a long main railway line in northern England. It is also known as the Settle and Carlisle. It is a part of the National Rail network and was constructed in the 1870s...
), East Leake
East Leake
East Leake is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire, England, although its closest town and postal address is Loughborough across the border in Leicestershire. It has a population of around 7,000. The original village was located on the Sheepwash Brook. ...
(on the Great Central Main Line
Great Central Main Line
The Great Central Main Line , also known as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway , is a former railway line which opened in 1899 linking Sheffield with Marylebone Station in London via Nottingham and Leicester.The GCML was the last main line railway built in...
) and occasionally to Robertsbridge
Robertsbridge
Robertsbridge is a village in East Sussex, England within the civil parish of Salehurst and Robertsbridge. It is approximately 10 miles north of Hastings and 13 miles south-east of Tunbridge Wells...
(on the Hastings Line
Hastings Line
The Hastings Line is a railway line in Kent and East Sussex linking Hastings with the main town of Tunbridge Wells, and from there into London via Sevenoaks.-Openings:The line was opened by the South Eastern Railway in main three stages: – :...
). DB Schenker transport the gypsum to the plants.
Ash use and disposal
Pulverised fuel ashPulverised Fuel Ash
Pulverised fuel ash , is a by product of pulverised fuel fired power stations. The fuel is pulverised into a fine powder, mixed with heated air and burned. Approximately 18% of the fuel forms fine glass spheres, the lighter of which are borne aloft by the combustion process...
(PFA) and furnace bottom ash
Bottom ash
Bottom ash refers to part of the non-combustible residues of combustion. In an industrial context, it usually refers to coal combustion and comprises traces of combustibles embedded in forming clinkers and sticking to hot side walls of a coal-burning furnace during its operation. The portion of...
(FBA) are two byproducts made through the burning of coal. Each year, the station produces about 1,000,000 tonnes of PFA and around 220,000 tonnes of FBA. Most of this ash is sold on, with all FBA and 85% of PFA being sold. Under the trade name Drax Ash Products, the sold ash is sold to the local building industry, where it is used in the manufacture of blocks, cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
products, grout
Grout
Grout is a construction material used to embed rebars in masonry walls, connect sections of pre-cast concrete, fill voids, and seal joints . Grout is generally composed of a mixture of water, cement, sand, often color tint, and sometimes fine gravel...
ing and the laying of roads. The ash is also used in other parts of the country. Between 2005 and 2007, PFA was used as an infill at four disused salt mine
Salt mine
A salt mine is a mining operation involved in the extraction of rock salt or halite from evaporite deposits.-Occurrence:Areas known for their salt mines include Kilroot near Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland ; Khewra and Warcha in Pakistan; Tuzla in Bosnia; Wieliczka and Bochnia in Poland A salt mine...
s in Northwich
Northwich
Northwich is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies in the heart of the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane...
in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
. 1,100,000 tonnes of PFA was used in the project, which was to avoid a future risk of subsidence in the town. Ash was delivered to the salt mines by DB Schenker in ten trains a week, each carrying 1,100 tonnes of PFA. Following a trial in January 2010, PFA is also transported to Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
by boat. One ship a month will transport 1,200 tonnes of PFA from the station to Ireland for the manufacture of construction materials. This will replace 480 lorry journeys annually and is deemed more environmentally friendly.
The unsold PFA is sent by conveyor belt
Conveyor belt
A conveyor belt consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley...
to the Barlow
Barlow, North Yorkshire
Barlow is a small village and civil parish located in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England.Barlow is an essentially rural village, situated about three miles from the town of Selby and from the motorway network...
ash mound, which is used for disposal and temporary stockpile. Three conveyors feed the mound, with a total capacity of delivering 750 tonnes of PFA an hour. Some FGD gypsum is disposed of on the mound, if it is not of a high enough grade to be sold on. The mound itself is notable as it has won a number of awards for its nature conservation work.
Co-firing
Co-firing is the process of burning two or more types of fuel together at the same time. As well as burning coal, Drax power station also co-fires biomassBiomass
Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....
and petroleum coke
Petroleum coke
Petroleum coke is a carbonaceous solid derived from oil refinery coker units or other cracking processes. Other coke has traditionally been derived from coal....
('petcoke').
Biomass
The station tested co-firing biomass in the summer of 2004, and in doing so was the first power station in the UK to be fuelled by wood. The initial trial of 14,100 tonnes of willowWillow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
was locally sourced from nearby Eggborough
Eggborough
Eggborough is a village and civil parish of 750 homes, in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England, close to the county borders with South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the East Riding. The village is situated at the intersection of the A19 and the A645, approximately seven miles east of...
. Since the trial, the station's use of biomass has continued. The station uses direct injection for firing the biomass, whereby it bypasses the station's pulverising mills and is either injected directly into the boiler or the fuel line, for greater throughput of biomass. The station's use of biomass has continued to increase and a target has been set for 12.5% of the station's energy to be sourced from biomass. This will contribute to the station's aim to cut its CO2 emissions by 15%. The station burns a large range of biomass fuels, but among them, the most used are wood pellets, sunflower pellets
Sunflower
Sunflower is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence . The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads...
, olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
, peanut shell husk
Peanut
The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
and rape meal
Rapeseed
Rapeseed , also known as rape, oilseed rape, rapa, rappi, rapaseed is a bright yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae...
. The majority of the station's biomass comes from overseas.
Petcoke
The station started to trial the co-firing of petcoke in one of its boilers in June 2005. The trial ended in June 2007. Over this period the boiler burned 15% petcoke and 85% coal. Petcoke was burned in the station to make the price of the station's electricity more competitive as the price of running the station's FGD equipment was making the station's electricity more expensive. The Environment AgencyEnvironment Agency
The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
(EA) granted permission for the trial in June 2004, despite the plans being opposed by Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...
and Selby Council
Selby (district)
Selby is a local government district of North Yorkshire, England. The local authority, Selby District Council, is based in the town of Selby and provides services to an area which includes Tadcaster and a host of villages....
. To meet their concerns, the station's emissions were constantly monitored through the trial, and they were not allowed to burn petcoke without operating the FGD plant to remove the high sulphur content of the fuel's emissions. The trial proved that there were no significant negative effects on the environment, and so in late 2007, Drax Group applied to move from trial conditions to commercial burn. The EA granted permission in early 2008 after agreeing with Drax's findings that the fuel had no significant negative effects on the environment. The station can now burn up to 300,000 tonnes of the fuel a year, and stock anything up to 6,000 tonnes of the material on site.
Environmental effects
The environmental effects of coalEnvironmental effects of coal
The environmental impact of coal mining and burning is diverse. Legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 1990 required the United States Environmental Protection Agency to issue a plan to alleviate toxic pollution from coal-fired power plants. After delay and litigation, the EPA now has a...
burning are well documented, the most significant of which is global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
, caused by the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the Earth's atmosphere. Coal is considered to be "easily the most carbon-intensive and polluting form of energy generation available". In 2007 Drax produced 22,160,000 tonnes of CO2, making it the largest single source of CO2 in the UK. Between 2000 and 2007, there has been a net increase in carbon dioxide CO2 of over 3,000,000 tonnes. Drax power station also has the highest estimated emissions of nitrogen oxide
Nitrogen oxide
Nitrogen oxide can refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds:* Nitric oxide, also known as nitrogen monoxide, , nitrogen oxide* Nitrogen dioxide , nitrogen oxide...
(NOx) in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
In 2007, in a move to try to lower the station's CO2 emissions, Drax Group signed a £100 million contract with Siemens Power Generation
Siemens Power Generation
Siemens Power Generation, Inc is a power generation company based in the United States run by the German Siemens AG Corporation.SPGI was formed by the acquisition and merger of the non-nuclear energy divisions of Westinghouse Electric Company by the Siemens power generation division in 1997; the...
to re-blade the station's steam turbines over the course of four years. This is the largest steam turbine modernisation ever undertaken in the UK, and will increase the station's efficiency. This, coupled with the co-firing of biomass
Biomass
Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....
, is part of a target to reduce the station's CO2 emissions by 15% by 2011.
Climate Camp
On 31 August 2006, over 600 people attended a protest against the power station's high carbon emissions. It was coordinated by the Camp for Climate ActionCamp for Climate Action
The Camps for Climate Action are campaign gatherings that take place to draw attention to, and act as a base for direct action against, major carbon emitters, as well as to develop ways to create a zero-carbon society...
group. At least 3,000 police officers from 12 forces were reported to have been drafted in for the duration of the protest, to safeguard electricity supplies and prevent the protesters from shutting the station down. Thirty-nine people were arrested during the protest after trying illegally to gain access to the plant.
Train protest
At 8:00 am on 13 June 2008, more than 30 climate change campaigners halted a EWS coal train en-route to Drax power station by disguising themselves as rail workers by wearing high-visibility clothingHigh-visibility clothing
High-visibility clothing, a type of personal protective equipment , is any clothing worn that has highly reflective properties or a colour that is easily discernible from any background. Yellow waistcoats worn by emergency services are a common example....
and waving red flag
Red flag
In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...
s. Stopping the train on a bridge crossing the River Aire
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
, they scaled the wagons with the aid of the bridge's girders. They then mounted a banner reading "Leave it in the ground" to the side of the wagon and tied the train to the bridge, preventing it moving. They then shovelled more than 20 tonnes of coal on to the railway line. The protest lasted the whole day, until several protesters were removed from the train by police that night. The station's management said that the protest had no effect on power station's output. The action was also coordinated by Camp for Climate Action.
Worker strike
On 18 June 2009, less than 200 contractors walked out of or failed to show up at Drax Power Station in a wildcat strike, none of which were Drax Power employees, showing solidarity with workers at the Lindsey Oil RefineryLindsey Oil Refinery
Lindsey Oil Refinery is a Total owned oil refinery on Eastfield Road in North Killingholme, North Lincolnshire, England. It lies immediately north of the Humber Refinery owned by rival oil company ConocoPhillips, being north of the railway line to Immingham Docks. The former RAF North Killingholme...
in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
where 51 workers had been laid off while another employer on the site was employing. A spokeswoman said the strike did not affect the station's electricity output.
Biomass power station
Drax GroupDrax Group
Drax Group plc is a British electrical power generation company. The company's principal subsidiary is Drax Power Limited, owner of the Drax power station near Selby in North Yorkshire, the largest coal-fired power station in Europe which supplies about 7% of UK electrical consumption...
have applied for planning permission to build a new 300 MW power station, fuelled entirely by biomass, to the north of the current power station site. The Ouse Renewable Energy Plant is expected to burn 1,400,000 tonnes of biomass each year, saving 1,850,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum. If the plans go ahead, 850 construction jobs will be created and 150 permanent jobs created once opened through direct and contract employment. Plans were submitted for review by the Department of Energy and Climate Change
Department of Energy and Climate Change
The Department of Energy and Climate Change is a British government department created on 3 October 2008 by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the functions of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs...
in July 2009. If planning permission is granted, construction may begin in late 2010 and is expected to last up to three and a half years. Two other similar plants are planned by Drax at the ports of Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
and Immingham
Immingham
Immingham is a town in North East Lincolnshire, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary...
.
Carbon capture and storage
On 17 June 2009, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate ChangeSecretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is a British government cabinet position currently held by Chris Huhne. The government department was created on 3 October 2008 when former Prime Minister Gordon Brown reshuffled his cabinet....
Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...
announced that all UK coal-fired power stations may be fitted with carbon capture and storage
Carbon capture and storage
Carbon capture and storage , alternatively referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is a technology to prevent large quantities of from being released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuel in power generation and other industries. It is often regarded as a means of mitigating...
(CCS) technology by the early 2020s or face closure. Due to the outcome of the 2010 general election, it is unclear if this remains government policy. Drax currently has made no statement on the viability of CCS technology at the power station. If it was necessary to install CCS technology at Drax, it would require the construction of new turbines and boilers, and a secure way of transporting CO2 emissions 64 km (39.8 mi) to the Yorkshire coast. Drax Power Limited are sponsoring development studies into the technology and its application.
Wind farm
In August 2010, the Wind Prospect GroupWind Prospect
Wind Prospect group undertakes all aspects of wind energy development, including design, construction, operation and commercial services ....
announced plans to build a twelve turbine wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...
near the power station. Known as the Rusholme wind farm, each of the turbine's hubs will stand at 60 m (196.9 ft), with 40 m (131.2 ft) blades, giving them each a total height of 100 m (328.1 ft).
See also
- List of power stations in England
- Timeline of the UK electricity supply industryTimeline of the UK electricity supply industryThe following is a list of major events in the history of the United Kingdom's electricity supply industry.-See also:*Energy policy of the United Kingdom*Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom*Energy switching services in the UK-References:* *...
- List of tallest buildings and structures in Great Britain
- Energy use and conservation in the United KingdomEnergy use and conservation in the United KingdomEnergy use in the United Kingdom stood at 3,894.6 kilogrammes of oil equivalent per capita in 2005 compared to a world average of 1,778.0. In 2008, total energy consumed was 9.85 exajoules - around 2% of the estimated 474 EJ worldwide total...
- Energy policy of the United KingdomEnergy policy of the United KingdomThe current energy policy of the United Kingdom is set out in the Energy White Paper of May 2007 and Low Carbon Transition Plan of July 2009, building on previous work including the 2003 Energy White Paper and the Energy Review Report in 2006...
- Eggborough Power StationEggborough Power StationEggborough Power Station is a large coal-fired power station in North Yorkshire, England, capable of co-firing biomass. It is siuated on the River Aire, between the towns of Knottingley and Snaith, deriving its name from the nearby village of Eggborough...