Staythorpe Power Plant, United Kingdom

The 1,650MW CCGT (Combined Cycle Gas Turbine) power plant is being built in Staythorpe in Nottinghamshire. The project is part of RWE’s plan to renew its generation portfolio with new and more efficient and environmentally friendly plants. The plant is expected to become operational by 2010.

The power plant at Staythorpe will ensure smooth power output while maintaining low emissions and high efficiency, catering to daily variations in electricity demand.

The company started construction of the power plant in 2007 and the whole station will be on-stream by mid-2010.

History

The plant is being built on the Brownfield site of two former CEGB coal-fired power stations. Planning permission for Staythorpe was given in 1993 and construction started in 1998 by the previous owner National Power. The construction was then stopped in 2000 as UK generator had developed sufficient power stations to fulfil the electricity demand at the time.

RWE worked with Newark and Sherwood District Council, Nottingham County Council and other regulatory bodies for planning and technical issues, enabling use of advanced technology.

Engineering contract with Alstom

During August 2007, Alstom entered into a £600m contract with RWE nPower for the construction and the maintenance support of power plant at Staythorpe.

The power plant will consist of four combined cycle units, each around 400MW with individual advanced class GT26 gas turbines with high operational flexibility and lowest in class emissions, one compact state-of-the-art reheat steam turbine, one high efficiency hydrogen cooled TOPGAS generator and one triple pressure reheat recovery steam generator.

Under the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract, Alstom will offer design, supply and installation of the plant, and operation and maintenance support to the station up to the first major inspection of each machine in addition to long-term spare parts agreements for the first 20 years of plant operation.

The new power plant is expected to bring around £10m into the local economy every year and will have combined capacity to generate power for about two millions homes.

RWE chief executive officer Andrew Duff said: "The investment in this new power plant to be built by Alstom will put us on track to reduce the amount of CO2 we emit per unit of power generated by one third by 2015 compared to 2000, and by one half compared to 1990 levels."

Site advantage

In 2007, RWE was deciding between building a new CCGT at Staythorpe or at Pembroke in South Wales.

Staythorpe was chosen as the site for new CCGT electricity generation by RWE as it had already secured planning permission. Planning permission has since been granted at Pembroke in February 2009 and construction of the £1bn facility began in June. The pair will operate as sister stations, with both the contracts awarded to Alstom.

The new gas fired power station at Staythorpe will produce four times as much as electricity as compared to previous coal fired power stations.

Environmental impact

The local environmental impact at Staythorpe will be minimal. The gas will be brought directly to site with the help of the existing pipeline, so there is no requirement for transporting main fuel to site. There will be no residual due to combustion of gas and no by-products for disposal. The new state of art CCGT power plant will be more environmentally friendly with a low release of CO2.

Background

RWE npower is part of RWE group. It manges a portfolio of low cost coal, oil and gas-fired power stations. Building new nuclear power stations is a key activity to meet UK’s energy needs and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It has formed a joint venture with E.ON UK for developing a least 6GW of new nuclear build. RWE is targeting to increase the efficiency with the reduction in carbon dioxide emission. RWE will soon start construction of large scale power station in Pembroke, UK also.