Skelton Grange power station

Skelton Grange Power Station refers to two now-demolished coal fired power stations (Skelton Grange ‘A’ and Skelton Grange ‘B’) that served the city of Leeds and surrounding areas. They were located in the Stourton area of the city. The power stations were built in the early 1950s and early 1960s,[1] taken out of use in 1983 and 1994[2] and subsequently dismantled but the associated 275 kV switching substation was retained and remains in use.

Skelton Grange Power Stations
CountryEngland
LocationStourton Leeds
Coordinates53°46′32″N 01°29′31″W
StatusDecommissioned and demolished
Construction beganA: 1946
B: 1958
Commission dateA: 1951
B: 1960-62
Decommission dateA: 1983
B: 1994
Owner(s)British Electricity Authority
(1951–1955)
Central Electricity Authority (1955–1957)
Central Electricity Generating Board
(1958–1990)
National Power
(1990–1995)
Operator(s)As owner
Thermal power station
Primary fuelCoal
Site area130 acres
ChimneysA: 2
B: 1
Cooling towersA: 3
B: 4
Cooling sourceRiver water and cooling towers
Power generation
Units operationalA: 360 MW total
B: 4 ×120 MW
Units decommissionedAll

Skelton Grange A

Preparatory work for Skelton Grange was begun by Leeds Corporation in 1946. Upon nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry in 1948 the partly built plant was vested in the British Electricity Authority (1948–55), then the Central Electricity Authority (1955–57) and the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) from 1958. The power station was designed and built by Marples Ridgway, a joint venture between Lord Marples and Reginald Ridgway.[3] The site was selected for accessibility to the Aire and Calder Navigation, this provided access for colliers delivering coal and removing ash, and water for cooling.

Skelton Grange A had a generating capacity of 360 MW.[4] There were six C.A. Parsons 60 MW 3-cylinder reaction type turbines with 75,000 kVA alternators generating at 11 kV. The first generating set was commissioned in April 1951 followed by the second set in November 1951, then August 1952, June 1954, December 1954 and the sixth set in December 1955.[5] The boiler plant comprised nine International Combustion 6 × 360,000 lb/hr and 3 × 550,000 lb/hr (a total of 480 kg/s) operating at 975 psi and 940 °F (67.2 bar and 504 °C).[5] The station had two chimneys and originally had three cooling towers.[6] The Kier cooling towers each had a capacity of 3.25 million gallons per hour 4.1 m3/s). Water was supplied from the River Aire and sewage effluent.

The capacity and output of Skelton Grange A is given in the following table.[5][7][8]

Skelton Grange A electricity capacity and output
Year 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1961 1962 1963 1967 1971 1979 1982
Installed capacity, MW 168 280 336 336 336 360 360 360 360 360 180 180
Electricity output, GWh 1,331.8 1,496.5 2,093.9 2,329.6 2,677.9 2317 2038 1768 1794 1,333.8 502 298.1

In October 1975 the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) gave the station 12 months notice of partial closure. Full closure of the A station was on 31 October 1983.[9]

Skelton Grange B

Skelton Grange B was built to the south east of the A station, and was commissioned by the CEGB in 1960–62. Unit No. 1 of the B station was first commissioned in October 1960, Units 2 and 3 were commissioned in 1961 and Unit 4 in 1962.[10] The B station had four pulverised fuel boilers each producing 108 kg/s of steam. The steam conditions were 103.42 bar at 538 °C, reheat was to 538 °C.[11] There were four 120 MW turbo-alternators giving a total gross installed capacity of 480 MW, and a net output of 448 MW.[11] Skelton Grange B was one of the CEGB's twenty steam power stations with the highest thermal efficiency; in 1963–4 the thermal efficiency was 32.24 per cent, 32.02 per cent in 1964–5, and 31.90 per cent in 1965–6.[7] The annual electricity output of Skelton Grange B was:[7][8]

Electricity output of Skelton Grange B
Year 1960–1 1961–2 1962–3 1963–4 1964–5 1965–6 1966–7 1971–2 1978–9 1981–2
Installed capacity, MW 120 480 480 448 448 448 480 480 480 480
Electricity supplied, GWh 222 1308 2500 2,339 2,427 2,376 2,528 1,772 1,422 1,790

Condensing of steam was by regenerative condensers using circulating water from the River Aire and originally four cooling towers.[6] Skelton Grange B had a single taller chimney. Upon privatisation of the electricity industry in 1990 ownership of the B station was transferred to National Power. Skelton Grange B station closed in 1994. The cooling towers and chimneys were demolished on 12 November 1995.[12]

Development proposals

The site has had many proposals for re-use since it closed; it was considered as a site for a new stadium for Leeds United in 2001,[13] and RWE npower wanted to construct industrial warehousing on the site in 2007.[14] It was sold to the Harworth Group in 2016, who have used some of the land for their Gateway 45 project.[15][16] The site was also considered as a location for a depot for High Speed 2 rolling stock terminating and starting at Leeds.[17]

See also

References
  1. "Energy Recovery Facility" (PDF). leeds.gov.uk. 7 February 2013. p. 6. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  2. "National Grid website - list of generation disconnections". Archived from the original on 8 May 2003.
  3. "Reginald Ridgway". The Telegraph. 29 March 2002. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  4. "Grace's Guide Skelton Grange". Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  5. Garrett, Frederick C., ed. (1959). Garcke's Manual of Electricity Supply vol. 56. London: Electrical Press. pp. A-93, A-133.
  6. "Skelton Grange - Aerial views". Leodis. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  7. CEGB (1966). CEGB Statistical Yearbooks 1964, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1982. London: CEGB. p. 20.
  8. GEGB Annual report and accounts, various years
  9. "Coal-fired power stations (closure)". Hansard. 16 January 1984. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  10. "AEC Research and Development Report Vol 7 Station commissioning". Google Books. 1971. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  11. Handbook of Electricity Supply Statistics 1989. London: The Electricity Council. 1990. p. 5. ISBN 085188122X.
  12. "Skelton Grange". Secret Leeds. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  13. "Leeds United may move to power station site". The Yorkshire Post. 23 May 2001. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  14. "Firm unwilling to pay for 'wild salmon' scheme". Yorkshire Evening Post. 10 December 2007. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  15. "Harworth Estates acquires major development site in Leeds - Harworth". Harworth. 27 November 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  16. Kilgannon, Laurence (16 March 2016). "Keyland sells EZ hub stake to regeneration firm". Insider Media Ltd. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  17. "HS2 Ltd's Advice to Government: Eastern Leg Rolling Stock Depot Consultation" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. July 2018. p. 23. Retrieved 5 July 2018.


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