The North West Midlands Joint Electricity Authority began work on Meaford Power Station in 1945, and it was completed in 1948 – the first power station to come into operation after the war. The station was to later be known as Meaford A power station. It had a generating capacity of 120 megawatts, comprising four 30 MW GEC turbo-alternators, fed by boilers on a 'range system'. It had two brick 350' tall chimneys, one at either end of the station, and two tall concrete cooling towers. The generating capacity, electricity production and thermal efficiency are shown in the table.
Generation ceased in 1974, and the station was completely demolished by 1982.
Meaford B
Meaford B power station was located to the south of A station. The station was built using numerous main and sub-contractors to include G. Percy Trentham, Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Co., P.C. Richardson & Co., Babcock & Wilcox, British Thomson-Houston and many contractors. Construction work on it began in 1951, with completion and formal opening on 4 October 1957. It was of 240 MW generating capacity, comprising four 60 MW British Thomson-Houston turbo alternators. These were initially rated at 65 MW, but later at 60 MW. Steam was provided by four Babcock & Wilcox boilers. These fed steam at 515,000 lbs per hour, with a steam temperature of 1,065 °F and 1,500 psi operating pressure. The station was built on the 'unit' or 'set' principle where one boiler fed one turbo alternator. It had one centrally placed, brick built chimney, which stood at tall. System water was cooled by three tall cooling towers. The station was of brick cladding construction over a steel frame, which supported the four boilers from the roof. Its design efficiency was 31.41%. The station was initially operated by the Central Electricity Authority which shortly after the formal opening became the Central Electricity Generating Board, and the 'B' station was quite an efficient station for much of its life, and won a number of trophies within the Board. Investment continued in the late 1980s, principally to reduce smoke and sulphur emissions. With the cessation of the CEGB as an entity on 31 March 1990, the B station was allocated to National Power – the larger of the two conventional power companies formed from the CEGB at privatisation. Generation continued through 1990, until late September that year, when it was announced that B station was to close imminently: i.e. when the coal in the bunkers on the station had run out. This occurred with the tripping of №2 unit at 13.00 hrs on 28 September 1990. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIld0fHfXBI The generating capacity, electricity production and thermal efficiency are shown in the table.
Year
1957
1958
1960
1961
1962
1963
1971
1979
1981
1982
Installed capacity, MW
112
224
244
240
250
260
240
240
224
224
Electricity output, GWh
479.48
963.46
1764.15
1405.11
1481.8
1350.7
832.78
834.3
859.85
568.07
Thermal efficiency, %
29.00
30.02
30.33
30.12
29.73
29.20
27.17
20.95
26.98
27.52
The annual output of Meaford B in GWh was:The five cooling towers were demolished in September 1991, followed by formal closure of the station on 1 October 1991. Demolition of the station then commenced, and was completed on 9 June 1996 with the felling of the chimney, which made the national television news that day. Two steam railway locomotives and two diesel railway locomotives are preserved at heritage railways in Northern England and the Midlands. Site largely empty as of October 2019 apart from operational 'B' and 'C' substations for the National Grid and Western Power Distribution, though some 'A' station buildings are occupied for business use. The 28 September 2015 was the 25th anniversary of electricity being generated for the last time when №2 unit was tripped at 13:00 and the station went off-load for the final time. A new company Meaford Energy Limited has now submitted a DCO Application for the Meaford Energy Centre, a new combined cycle gas turbine power station and its integral gas and electricity connections to be built on part of the site of the old power stations. The new Power Station is proposed to have a generating capacity of up to 299MWe. Meaford Energy Limited is a joint venture between Glenfinnan and St. Modwen - the owners of the site.
