Great Yarmouth's first power station which used coal was built in 1894 and demolished in 1961 together with its iconic large chimney. In 1923 the AC plant comprised 3 × 75 kW, 3 × 150 kW and 2 × 300 kW reciprocating engines and generators, and 1 × 600 kW and 2 × 1,500 kW turbo-alternators. The DC plant comprised 2 × 200 kW and 1 × 400 kW reciprocating engines and generators. The total generating capacity of the station was 4,175 kW. The total output of the boiler plant was 58,000 lb/hr of steam. Electricity was available as single phase AC, 83.5 Hz at 200 and 100V and DC at 500 V. In 1923 the station generated 3.776 GWh of electricity, some of this was used in the plant, the total amount sold was 5.559 GWh. The revenue from sales of current was £48,038, this gave a surplus of revenue over expenses of £20,776. By 1959 the plant comprised one Babcock & Wilcox 108,000 pounds per hour boiler delivering steam at 260 psi and 750°F to one 7.5 MW and one 3.75 MW Brush-Ljunstrom turbo-alternators. Condenser water was drawn from the River Yare. The electricity output in th final years was:
Year
Output GWh
1953/4
10.317
1954/5
15.956
1955/6
16.349
1956/7
16.637
1957/8
5.553
Before demolition a second much larger plant, built on the South Denes, had opened in September 1958.
South Denes power station
South Denes power station was sanctioned in Juy 1953 and was initially commissioned in 1957. It had an installed capacity of 252 MW and comprised 2 × 60 MW Metropolitan Vickers turbo-alternator and 2 × 60 MW Richardsons Westgarth turbo-alternators. In 1972 the 60 MW machine was up-rated to 64 MW. The four boilers were oil-fired and produced steam at a rate of 550,000 lb/hr at a pressure of 900 psi and 482°C. Seawater was used for cooling. In 1961 the thermal efficiency of the station was 30.44 per cent. The output in GWh over the period 1961-82 was as follows.This plant produced power until it was first scheduled to close in 1984 before briefly being used again during the UK miners' strike after which is again remained unused until 1994 which demolition began. On 5 May 1997 the main building and its chimney were demolished via a controlled explosion watched by thousands of people from the roads on the other side of the River Yare. The chimney was a landmark of Great Yarmouth, and had been the tallest structure in Norfolk. The current gas power station plant was built on the site by Bechtel for Great Yarmouth Power Limited between 1998 and 2001. The project was projected to cost £185 million. The plant was operated byGE International, trading as IGE Energy Services Ltd and was then bought by RWE in November 2005 for £155m.
Specification
It is a CCGT type power station that runs on natural gas supplied via a 12-inch diameter high pressure pipeline from the Bacton Gas Terminal 27 miles to the north-west. It has one 265MWe General Electric Frame 9 gas turbine with the exhaust gas heating a Doosanheat recovery steam generator, leading to a 150MWe General Electric steam turbine. At 420MW, it generates enough electricity for around 350,000 homes. It has a thermal efficiency of 57%. The terminal voltage of the plant is 19kV, which meets the distribution network of EDF Energy via a transformer at 132kV. The steam condenser uses about 9 tonnes of water a second drawn from the River Yare and discharged out to sea.
