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Didcot powerstation

Kelly Marie Angel
I saw on the news earlier that this morning they blew up the last of Didcots cooling towers  the demolition went ok but the dust cloud caused a flashover in the substation that is still used to supply parts or maybe a

all of Oxfordshire  I bet the grid engineers were tearing there hair out after last weeks events
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    Denis McMahon:




    Chris Pearson:

    . . .


    What rather staggers me is that the lifespan of the place was only about 40 years, which begs a couple of questions:


    (1) What was the intended lifespan in the original business case?


    (2) How much energy has been consumed in both building and demolishing the place?




     

    I have usually reckoned that 40 years is about standard for the working life of a power station. Some have gone on for longer, e.g Ferrybridge C, 50 years, in spite of having three of its cooling towers blown down by nature in its early years. Some have had shorter lives, e.g. North Tees C, 30 years.


    Denis, thank you, but I am staggered. Would you buy a house with a 40 year life-span?


    As for coal, there is plenty of it left, but currently it cannot be mined economically. That may change in 50, 100, or 200 years.

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    If we need some high inertia spinning reserve then running a coal station at part load may well be the best way of achieving it.

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    Now the cooling towers are down Better view from the anchor inn Abingdon
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    Apropos of loss of infrastructure, there's also a lot of positives, for example the IFA2 project at Daedalus airfield (lee on the solent)... apparently the engineering is very impressive, but sadly local skills weren't available so contractors from afar are doing a lot of the work. It's good to see at least one local company (Prysmian, formerly Pirelli) are involved :)
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    OMS



    Just because JC's family happened to be in engineering and science doesn't make him a saint - and history records just what a creature the man really is.


    By coincidence I posted this is another thread

    A couple of years ago, I stopped in a Hotel and my room overlooked the site of the Battle of Orgreave which took place in June 1984.  I was a “Power Worker” at the time, picket lines and police road blocks were commonplace. Residual bitterness and enmities still linger in certain communities.


    Anyone who believes that any of our political “leaders” are "saints" or "creatures" has perhaps lingered too long in the aforementioned Anchor Inn at Abingdon or a similar establishment.    ?  ?

    We made decisions in the UK and coal mining is history. I was in Silesia recently where the situation is different and we have all read about China. I won’t debate UK energy and industrial policy over the last quarter century here, but there is plenty of scope to criticise.  I tried to find some safety statistics about the Selby complex , which was the last pit I went down, with a friend who ran the mines training centre at Allerton Bywater.  In the hope of political balance I have chosen two sources.  Also for context is the obituary of John Lyons who I met on several occasions and some members may have known well.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1401643/2000-jobs-to-go-at-doomed-coalfield-that-lost-millions.html

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2004/oct/26/g2

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/14/john-lyons-obituary



     

     




    oops! it seems that I haven't mastered  the "quote" tool very well ?

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    MHRestorations:

    Apropos of loss of infrastructure, there's also a lot of positives, for example the IFA2 project at Daedalus airfield (lee on the solent)... apparently the engineering is very impressive, but sadly local skills weren't available so contractors from afar are doing a lot of the work. It's good to see at least one local company (Prysmian, formerly Pirelli) are involved :)




    MHR, have you seen any of it up close? There are some pretty big spools of blue cable or ducting (cannot be water pipe) there at the moment. Think of a reel of 2.5 mm2 T&E and magnify by about a hundred.


    A guided tour would be interesting. ?

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    What is the IFA2 project at deadalus?
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    Alan Capon:




    davidwalker2:

    Interesting to note that on Gridwatch, Coal has started up again.




    Cottham will come down soon, but still has a large coal stock. I believe burning it in the station is the most cost effective method of removal. 


    Regards,


    Alan. 


     




     

    Yes, I guess that its coal stock will be used up during an organised run-up to its closure. National  Grid has "enjoyed" some coal-free generation periods this summer, but as the weather becomes colder and demand increases, coal fired stations will be brought back on line to meet the demand. We are not quite finished with coal just yet.
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    And also the summer is when all the planned maintenance is done. It just takes one or two of these to overrun and there is a shortage of capacity.
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    Kelly Marie:

    What is the IFA2 project at deadalus? 





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