Gas

Cowes Power Station is located on the River Medina on the Isle of Wight and has 2 units consisting of x 4 diesel powered, Rolls Royce Olympus Engines (2x4).

• Location – East Cowes, Isle of Wight
• MW Capacity – 140
• Commission Date – 1982
• Did You Know? – The Rolls-Royce Olympus engines that power the station were the same type used in the Vulcan bomber and the iconic Concorde.

Hythe Power Station is located near to the Southampton waterway and consists of a single GE LM6000 Gas Turbine.

• Location – Hythe, Southampton
• MW Capacity – 46.5
• Commission Date – 2005
• Did You Know? – Hythe Power Station was originally built as a CHP to provide steam and power to local businesses. When those businesses closed, in 2015 the power station was modified to operate as an OCGT. Hythe Power station is also the central control room for the Embedded Assets fleet which consists of Cheshire, Grimsby, Cowes and Didcot OCGT Power Stations.

Didcot OCGT Power Station

Didcot OCGT is located on the same site as Didcot B Power Station and has 4 Units consisting of 2 diesel powered, Rolls Royce Avon Engines (4x2).

• Location – Didcot, Oxfordshire
• MW Capacity – 98
• Commission Date – 1969
• Did You Know? – The Rolls-Royce Avon engines used at the station were also widely deployed in aircraft, including the pair that powered the very first non-stop, unrefuelled transatlantic jet flight.

Didcot B Power Station

Didcot B is a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) station, meaning that the waste heat from the gas turbine is used to make steam, which in turn drives a steam turbine, generating much more power more efficiently than with a gas turbine alone.  It has a total capacity of 1,440MW – enough to cover the energy needs of around 1 million homes.

• Address – Milton Road
• MW – 1440
• Commission Date – 1996-1997
• Did You Know? – In 2011, we completed a project worth £60 million in order to increase efficiency of the power plant to more than 55 per cent.

Grimsby Power Station is comprised of Grimsby A and Grimsby B Gas Engines. Grimsby A consists of 10 x 2MW Cummins Gas Engines and Grimsby B consists of 4 x 4.5MW and 1 x 2.0MW Jenbacher Type 6 Reciprocating Gas Engines.

• Location – Grimsby
• MW Capacity – 40
• Commission Date – Grimsby A – 2017 & Grimsby B – 2024
• Did You Know? – Jenbacher gas engines have an electrical efficiency up to 47% making them one of the most efficient engines of this type.

Cheshire Power Station is comprised of Cheshire OCGT, Cheshire North and Cheshire West (currently under construction). Cheshire OCGT comprises 1 x – GE Frame 6B (40MW), Cheshire North - 4 x 4.5MW & 1 x 2.0MW - Jenbacher Type 6 Reciprocating Gas Engines and Cheshire West (currently under construction) - 5 x 4.5MW Jenbacher Type 6 Reciprocating Gas Engines.

• Location – Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
• MW Capacity – 60 and 22.5 under construction
• Commission Date – Cheshire OCGT 2000, Cheshire North – 2023 and Cheshire West currently under construction with commissioning expected Q3 2026.
• Did You Know? – Cheshire Power Station was originally built as a CHP to provide steam and power to a large papermill. However the paper mill closed, and in 2010 the power station was modified to operate as an OCGT.

Staythorpe power station is a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) station, meaning that the waste heat from the gas turbine is used to make steam, which in turn drives a steam turbine, generating much more power more efficiently than with a gas turbine alone. It has a total capacity of 1,701MW – enough to cover the energy needs of around 2.8 million homes and produces less than 50% of CO₂ compared with a coal-fired station of the same output.

• Location – Nr Newark
• MW Capacity – 1701
• Comission Date – 2010
• Did You Know? – Staythorpe is the largest CCGT in England and is the third power station to be built on the site, the previous two being coal-fired. Located alongside the River Trent, there are some elegant steps down to the water’s edge where, so rumour has it, the very first power station manager used to moor his motor launch which he used to travel to and from work.

King’s Lynn power station is a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) station, meaning that the waste heat from the gas turbine is used to make steam, which in turn drives a steam turbine, generating much more power more efficiently than with a gas turbine alone. It can meet the needs of 400,000 households. In December 2019 RWE purchased the plant from Centrica. The plant joins the UK gas portfolio which is the largest and most efficient fleet in the UK.

• Location – King's Lynn
• MW Capacity – 382
• Comission Date – 1997 (replant 2019)
• Did You Know? – The power station uses a highly innovative air-cooled condenser, meaning that it takes no water from local rivers despite being located immediately adjacent to the River Great Ouse Relief Channel. It therefore has an even lower environmental footprint than other CCGTs of a similar size that are water-cooled.

Great Yarmouth is acombined-cycle gas turbine power station meaning that the waste heat from the gas turbine is used to make steam, which in turn drives a steam turbine, generating much more power more efficiently than with a gas turbine alone.

• Location – South Denes Road
• MW Capacity – 411
• Comission Date – 2002
• Did You Know? – It has a capacity of 411 MW, which is enough to meet the needs of more than 300,000 households.

Little Barford is a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station, meaning that the waste heat from the gas turbine is used to make steam, which in turn drives a steam turbine, generating much more power more efficiently than with a gas turbine alone.

• Location – St Neots
• MW Capacity – 698
• Commission Date – 1994
• Did You Know? – In 2012, we invested £100 million in Little Barford to make the plant considerably more efficient and environmentally friendly. Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) were reduced by 40% and the increased fuel efficiency of the plant will save the equivalent of 118,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) each year. The site was also used as an external filming location for the 1989 film ‘Batman’.

Pembroke power station is a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) station, meaning that the waste heat from the gas turbine is used make steam, which in turn drives a steam turbine, generating much more power more efficiently than with a gas turbine alone. The station has a total capacity of 2,181 MW and is one of the largest and most efficient plants of its kind in Europe. It produces less than half the CO₂ emissions compared to a coal-fired power station of the same output.

• Location – West Pennar
• MW Capacity – 2181
• Commission Date – 2012
• Did You Know? – The plant's net capacity is enough to power around 4 million homes - more than twice the number of households in Wales.  It’s the largest CCGT in the UK and takes gas via a pipeline that runs under the Milford Haven from the gas network located at the other side.