Aberthaw Power Station, Wales


History

“Aberthaw Power Station refers to two decommissioned coal-fired and co-fired biomass power stations on the coast of South Wales, near Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. They were located at Limpert Bay, near the villages of Gileston and West Aberthaw. The most recent power station on the site, Aberthaw B Power Station, co-fired biomass and as of 2008 had a generating capacity of 1,560 megawatts (MW). The power station closed on 31 March 2020.

The station was the location of a carbon capture trial system to determine whether the technology could be scaled up from lab conditions. The system consumed 1 MW.

The site of the stations was a golf course before the construction of the first station. Aberthaw was constructed by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) under the chairmanship of Christopher Hinton. It is known as one the original ‘Hinton Heavies’, a suite of new 500 MW units procured at the time. Aberthaw “A” Power Station although recorded as first generating power on 7 February 1960, officially opened on 29 October 1963, and at the time it was the most advanced in the world. Aberthaw “B” station opened in 1971. Aberthaw “A” operated until 1995. It was subsequently demolished. Its two 425 feet (130 m) chimneys were the last section to be demolished, and this was done on Saturday, 25 July 1998. The site now has three generating units, each driven by its own Foster-Wheeler boiler. From 2006–2007 new steam turbines were fitted, allowing each unit to generate an extra 28-30 MW of power. Each unit rated at 520 MW.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberthaw_power_station

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