Eggborough Power Station was built between 1962 and 1970, and first began generating electricity in 1967. The architect was George Hooper of Sir Percy Thomas & Son. Large expanses of aluminium cladding and dark glazing were intended to give 'a cool and defining architectural expression that subtly contrasted with the warm concrete towers and the black-capped chimney'. The station comprises four 500 megawatt coal-fired pulverised fuel units, giving the station a total electrical output of 1,960 MW. The first of these units were commissioned to the site in February 1967. The remaining units were all fully operational by 1970. There were four boilers rated at 550 kg/s, steam conditions were 158.58 bar at 568/568°C reheat. Units 3 and 4 had Flue Gas Desulphurisation equipment installed, which reduced the units' emissions of Sulphur Dioxide by around 90%. There were 3 × 17.5 MW auxiliary black start Rolls Royce Olympus gas turbines on the site, these were first commissioned in May 1967. Eggborough power stations were supplied with fuel via a 1½ mile branch line off the Wakefield and Goole Line. Rail facilities include a west-facing junction on the Goole line, two coal discharge lines, gross- and tare-weight weighbridges, a hopper house, a limestone unloading line and an oil discharge line. The eight cooling towers are arranged in two rows of four located to the west of the power station building. There is a single 200 m tall chimney located to the north of the main building. The electrical switching station was located to the south of the main building. In 2005 a retrofit turbine upgrade was carried out to increase the station's efficiency and flexibility by improving part-load and two-shift operation. The station employed around 300 people, as well as contractors. Alongside Ferrybridge Power Stations, Eggborough used to pump ash from the incineration process to a piece of land south of the railway line, The M62 and the Aire and Calder Navigation called Gale Common Ash Disposal. The area covered and was landscaped by Brenda Colvin into a hill with contours. The hill reaches a height of and stands out amongst the rather flat landscape of this part of North Yorkshire. In late 2018 the decommissioned station was used as a filming location for the Fast and the Furious film, Hobbs & Shaw.
Ownership
The station was built for, and initially operated by, the Central Electricity Generating Board. The station became the property of National Power on privatisation of the industry in 1990. British Energy bought Eggborough Power Station, as its only coal-fired power station, in 2000 to provide a more flexible power production facility alongside its nuclear power stations to reduce penalty charge risks from the New Electricity Trading Arrangements introduced in March 2001. The purchase of Eggborough occurred at the peak of the market for power stations, and in 2002 the value of the station was written down by half. At the beginning of 2009, Électricité de France purchased British Energy. In August 2009, it became apparent that the station's lenders had the option to buy the station the following April, to comply with commitments made to the European Commission when agreeing the acquisition of British Energy. On 1 April 2010, EDF transferred Eggborough to the plant's bondholders. In November 2014 it was announced, that power station was to be acquired by Czech Republic-based Energetický a průmyslový holding. The acquisition was finalised January 2015. In September 2015 the owners announced the plant was expected to stop producing electricity by the end of March 2016. However less than two months before the closure, in February 2016 it was announced that the plant would continue to operate for at least another twelve months through to March 2017. On 1 August it was announced that a further unit would be available to run commercially from mid September 2016. Units 1 & 2 will generate for National Grid under the Supplementary Balance Reserve contracts providing 775 MW. Unit 4 returned to commercial operation on 16 September 2016 to generate 440 MW into the wholesale market following six months of deep maintenance. On 26 August 2016 Eggborough Power Limited proposed to develop a new Eggborough Gas-Fired Power Station on the site of its existing coal-fired power station. The new power station will be a combined cycle gas turbine or ‘CCGT’ plant with three units generating 2,000 MW. Outline plans for the new development, which should be completed by 2022, involve demolishing the coal fired site and building a new gas connection. The plans are available on the National Infrastructure Planning web site and summarised on Eggborough's own website. On 2 February 2018 it was announced that Eggborough would close the following September. Eggborough power station stopped generating and de-synced on 23 March 2018. Generator 4 was the last operational unit and was declared unavailable at 02:00.
