Ironbridge Power Station
Encyclopedia
The Ironbridge power stations (also known as the Buildwas power stations) refers to a series of two coal-fired power stations which have occupied a site on the banks of the River Severn
at Buildwas
in Shropshire
, England
. The current Ironbridge B power station is operated by E.ON UK
. The station stands near the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site
, where the Industrial Revolution
began.
, in February 1927. The land had been identified earlier by Walsall Borough
as being suitable for power generation, in 1924. The close proximity of the River Severn
and several railway lines
provided excellent access to both cooling water and a source for the delivery of coal. The flat land of the site, formed by fluvial processes
at the end of the last ice-age, was ideal for the construction of a large turbine hall
.
(MW).
As a result of the increasing demand for electricity after the World War II
, it was decided by the Central Electricity Generating Board that a new, larger, 1000MW power station called Ironbridge B, was to be constructed alongside the A Station. The A station was partially closed on 27 October 1980, with the decommissioning of 100 MW of the station's generating capacity. The remainder of the station's capacity ceased generating electricity in 1981 and the station was demolished in 1983.
, the surroundings of the station are hidden by wooded hills. The cooling tower
s were deliberately constructed using concrete
to which a red pigment
had been added, to blend with the colour of the local soil. This had cost £11,000 in the 1960s. The towers cannot be seen at all from the world famous landmark, The Iron Bridge
. The station's single 205 m (672.6 ft) high chimney
is fifth tallest chimney in the UK. It is the tallest structure in Shropshire
, as well as being taller than Blackpool Tower
and London's BT Tower
.
The station's turbine hall
is decoratively clad in chipped granite
faced concrete panels, aluminium sheeting, and glazing. The turbine hall obscures the rather more functional metal clad boiler house
from view. A free-standing administration block continues the theme of concrete panelling, albeit with extensive use of large floor to ceiling windows. Period fittings within the administration block include a board room, containing mural
s that reference the industries of the Ironbridge Gorge, and a grand entrance hall with a metallic mural.
So impressive were the measures taken to ensure that the power station was an asset to the gorge and not an eyesore, that it was short listed for a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
/The Times
conservation award in 1973.
burners and electrostatic precipitator
s to reduce its environmental impact. The majority of the station's ash waste is sold to the construction industry.
s of coal was delivered to the power station every day, via a branch line
railway through Madeley
, Ironbridge
and Coalbrookdale
, crossing the River Severn
via, the Grade 2 Listed Albert Edward Bridge
. The railway branch joins the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury line
at Madeley Junction. The coal is delivered variously by DBS, Freightliner and Fastline. After the trains are emptied, they are usually stabled at Warrington Arpley Yard. Scheduled passenger services on the branch line were stopped in the 1960s, and so the line is kept open primarily for the transportation of coal to the power station. However, the Telford Steam Railway
has aspirations to take over the now unused western-most track of the former double-track railway between the power station and Lightmoor Junction
as part of their southern extension from Horsehay
through Doseley.
A steam locomotive hauled special passenger train, organised by railtour company 'Vintage Trains', visited the branch line on 3 November 2007. The tour was entitled Pannier to Ironbridge, and was hauled by former Great Western Railway
0-6-0
Pannier tank No. 9466, which ran a return trip between Tyseley, near Birmingham, and Ironbridge.
was split into different companies for privatisation, and Ironbridge Power Station went through a number of ownership transfers before eventually being owned by Powergen. In 2001 Powergen was taken over by E.ON
, an energy company based in Germany
.
The station is currently the only major generator of electricity in Shropshire. The plant consumes about 1.2 million tonnes of coal and 20,000 tonnes of oil
each year, and generated 2,990 GWh of electricity in 2004.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth
claim that as of 2006, the station is the second worst polluting power station in the United Kingdom
per megawatt output. Ironbridge has been opted out of the Large Combustion Plants Directive, which means the station will only be allowed to operate for up to 20,000 hours after 1 January 2008, and must close by 31 December 2015.
River Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
at Buildwas
Buildwas
Buildwas is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England, on the north bank of the River Severn at . It lies on the B4380 road to Atcham. The Royal Mail postcodes begin TF6 and TF8Buildwas Primary School is situated on the Buildwas bank road...
in Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, 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...
. The current Ironbridge B power station is operated by E.ON UK
E.ON UK
E.ON UK is an energy company in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of E.ON, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. As Powergen, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but since 1 July 2002 has been owned by E.ON AG of...
. The station stands near the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site
The Iron Bridge
The Iron Bridge crosses the River Severn at the Ironbridge Gorge, by the village of Ironbridge, in Shropshire, England. It was the first arch bridge in the world to be made out of cast iron, a material which was previously far too expensive to use for large structures...
, where the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
began.
Site selection
Ironbridge was selected to be the site of a large, modern "super station" by the West Midlands Joint Electricity AuthorityWest Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
, in February 1927. The land had been identified earlier by Walsall Borough
Metropolitan Borough of Walsall
The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is a local government district in the Black Country part of the West Midlands, England, with the status of a metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Walsall, but covers a larger area which also includes the towns of Aldridge, Brownhills,...
as being suitable for power generation, in 1924. The close proximity of the River Severn
River Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
and several railway lines
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...
provided excellent access to both cooling water and a source for the delivery of coal. The flat land of the site, formed by fluvial processes
Fluvial
Fluvial is used in geography and Earth science to refer to the processes associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them...
at the end of the last ice-age, was ideal for the construction of a large 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...
.
Ironbridge A
Construction of the first Ironbridge Power Station (later to become known as Ironbridge A Power Station) began in 1929, and the first phase was completed in 1932. The station officially opened on the 13 October 1932. The full generating capacity of Ironbridge A was not realised until major expansions and the commissioning of extra boilers and generating sets had been completed in 1939. This gave the A Station a total generating output of 200 megawattsWatt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
(MW).
As a result of the increasing demand for electricity after the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, it was decided by the Central Electricity Generating Board that a new, larger, 1000MW power station called Ironbridge B, was to be constructed alongside the A Station. The A station was partially closed on 27 October 1980, with the decommissioning of 100 MW of the station's generating capacity. The remainder of the station's capacity ceased generating electricity in 1981 and the station was demolished in 1983.
Ironbridge B
Parliamentary approval for Ironbridge B Power Station was sought and granted in 1962. Construction began in 1963, with the aim to begin generating electricity in the station in 1967. Due to construction delays, some limited industrial action and the implementation of improvements that had been pioneered during the construction of similar stations using the new 500 MW generating units, Ironbridge B didn't begin feeding power into the National Grid until the 11 June 1969. Full capacity was not reached until the second 500 MW unit began generating in February 1970.Design
Project architect Alan Clark worked closely with landscape architect Kenneth Booth, in order to ensure that the station merged as seamlessly as possible into its natural surroundings. In this respect, the power station is unique amongst British coal-fired stations. When viewed from IronbridgeIronbridge
Ironbridge is a settlement on the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England. It lies in the civil parish of The Gorge, in the borough of Telford and Wrekin...
, the surroundings of the station are hidden by wooded hills. The 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 were deliberately constructed using concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
to which a red pigment
Pigment
A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...
had been added, to blend with the colour of the local soil. This had cost £11,000 in the 1960s. The towers cannot be seen at all from the world famous landmark, The Iron Bridge
The Iron Bridge
The Iron Bridge crosses the River Severn at the Ironbridge Gorge, by the village of Ironbridge, in Shropshire, England. It was the first arch bridge in the world to be made out of cast iron, a material which was previously far too expensive to use for large structures...
. The station's single 205 m (672.6 ft) high 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...
is fifth tallest chimney in the UK. It is the tallest structure in Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, as well as being taller than Blackpool Tower
Blackpool Tower
Blackpool Tower Eye is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire in England which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. . Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it rises to 518 feet & 9 inches . The tower is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers...
and London's BT Tower
BT Tower
The BT Tower is a tall cylindrical building in London, United Kingdom, located at 60 Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia W1T 4JZ, London Borough of Camden. It has been previously known as the Post Office Tower, the London Telecom Tower and the British Telecom Tower. The main structure is tall, with a...
.
The station's 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...
is decoratively clad in chipped granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
faced concrete panels, aluminium sheeting, and glazing. The turbine hall obscures the rather more functional metal clad 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...
from view. A free-standing administration block continues the theme of concrete panelling, albeit with extensive use of large floor to ceiling windows. Period fittings within the administration block include a board room, containing mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
s that reference the industries of the Ironbridge Gorge, and a grand entrance hall with a metallic mural.
So impressive were the measures taken to ensure that the power station was an asset to the gorge and not an eyesore, that it was short listed for a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is an independent, representative professional body which regulates property professionals and surveyors in the United Kingdom and other sovereign nations....
/The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
conservation award in 1973.
Specification
The station generates electricity using two 500 MW generating sets. The turbines' blades are 1 m (3.3 ft) long each and when the turbines spin at their usual fixed speed of 3,000 rpm, the outermost tip of the last row of blades travel at approximately 2,000 km/h. The station uses low NOxNOx
NOx is a generic term for the mono-nitrogen oxides NO and NO2 . They are produced from the reaction of nitrogen and oxygen gases in the air during combustion, especially at high temperatures...
burners and electrostatic precipitator
Electrostatic precipitator
An electrostatic precipitator , or electrostatic air cleaner is a particulate collection device that removes particles from a flowing gas using the force of an induced electrostatic charge...
s to reduce its environmental impact. The majority of the station's ash waste is sold to the construction industry.
Coal supplies
Until recently (June 2010) approximately 3000 - 6000 tonneTonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s of coal was delivered to the power station every day, via a branch line
Branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...
railway through Madeley
Madeley, Shropshire
Madeley is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, now part of the new town of Telford. The parish had a population of 17,935 at the 2001 census.Madeley is recorded in the Domesday Book, having been founded before the 8th century...
, Ironbridge
Ironbridge
Ironbridge is a settlement on the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England. It lies in the civil parish of The Gorge, in the borough of Telford and Wrekin...
and Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. This is where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby using easily mined "coking coal". The coal was drawn from drift mines in the sides...
, crossing the River Severn
River Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
via, the Grade 2 Listed Albert Edward Bridge
Albert Edward Bridge
The Albert Edward Bridge is a railway bridge spanning the River Severn at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, England.-History:Opened on 1 November 1864, its design is almost identical to Victoria Bridge which carries the Severn Valley Railway over the Severn between Arley and Bewdley in Worcestershire...
. The railway branch joins the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury line
Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line
The Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line is the railway line from Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury via Wellington; it was originally built by the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway. The line is double track throughout, with rarely used relief sidings at Cosford and 4 tracks through Wellington station...
at Madeley Junction. The coal is delivered variously by DBS, Freightliner and Fastline. After the trains are emptied, they are usually stabled at Warrington Arpley Yard. Scheduled passenger services on the branch line were stopped in the 1960s, and so the line is kept open primarily for the transportation of coal to the power station. However, the Telford Steam Railway
Telford Steam Railway
The Telford Steam Railway is a heritage railway located at Horsehay, Telford in Shropshire, England, formed in 1976.The railway is operated by volunteers on Sundays and Bank Holidays from Easter to the end of September, and at Christmas...
has aspirations to take over the now unused western-most track of the former double-track railway between the power station and Lightmoor Junction
Lightmoor junction
Lightmoor Junction was a railway junction situated between Ironbridge Power Station at Buildwas and Madeley Junction in Shropshire, England.It was from Lightmoor Junction that a line once ran towards Wellington via Doseley and Horsehay...
as part of their southern extension from Horsehay
Horsehay
Horsehay is a village on the western outskirts of Dawley, which, along with several other towns and villages, now forms part of the new town of Telford in Shropshire, England. Horsehay lies in the Dawley Hamlets parish, and on the northern edge of the Ironbridge Gorge area.Its name is Anglo Saxon...
through Doseley.
A steam locomotive hauled special passenger train, organised by railtour company 'Vintage Trains', visited the branch line on 3 November 2007. The tour was entitled Pannier to Ironbridge, and was hauled by former Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
0-6-0
0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...
Pannier tank No. 9466, which ran a return trip between Tyseley, near Birmingham, and Ironbridge.
Ironbridge today
In 1990 the CEGBCEGB
The Central Electricity Generating Board was the cornerstone of the British electricity industry for almost 40 years; from 1957, to privatisation in the 1990s....
was split into different companies for privatisation, and Ironbridge Power Station went through a number of ownership transfers before eventually being owned by Powergen. In 2001 Powergen was taken over by E.ON
E.ON
E.ON AG, marketed with an interpunct as E•ON, is the holding company of the world's largest investor-owned energy service provider based in Düsseldorf, Germany. The name comes from the Greek word aeon which means eternity....
, an energy company based in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
The station is currently the only major generator of electricity in Shropshire. The plant consumes about 1.2 million tonnes of coal and 20,000 tonnes of oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
each year, and generated 2,990 GWh of electricity in 2004.
Environmental group 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...
claim that as of 2006, the station is the second worst polluting power station in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
per megawatt output. Ironbridge has been opted out of the Large Combustion Plants Directive, which means the station will only be allowed to operate for up to 20,000 hours after 1 January 2008, and must close by 31 December 2015.
