Deeside Power Station is a 498 MWe gas-fired power station on Weighbridge Road, near the A548, on the Deeside Industrial Park to the north of Connah’s Quay in Flintshire, north Wales. It is north of the River Dee.
History
It is sited on land of a former British Steel steelworks, and was commissioned in November 1994, costing £200 million. It was built by Alstom for National Power. It is now owned by International Power, the new-formed company of National Power in 2001. In April 2002, 250 MW of power was mothballed, when the price of electricity dropped. The station resumed full power in October 2003.
It is not to be confused with the nearby 1,420 MW Connah’s Quay Power Station owned by E.ON UK, which has four chimneys and is a mile to the west, also next to the A548, but on the south side of the River Dee. The power stations are separated by the impressive Flintshire Bridge (built in 1997).
Specification
It is a CCGT-type power station which runs on natural gas. There are two 166 MWe Alstom GT13E2 gas turbines, from which the exhaust gas at 525 °C enters two heat recovery steam generators. The steam from these powers one 176 MWe steam turbine. The terminal voltage on the ABB generators is 16 kV, and this electricity enters the National Grid, via a transformer, at 400 kV. It has a thermal efficiency of 53%. Cooling water for the condenser is taken from the River Dee. The cooling towers are made by Balcke Duerr of Ratingen, Germany. The plant has two chimneys.
