Lynemouth Power Station - Design and Specifications

Design and Specifications

The power station is divided into structures, which mainly include a boiler house and a turbine hall. Both of these structures have a steel frame foundation in the walls with aluminum cladding. Other structures include a single 114 m (374 ft) tall chimney made out of solid reinforced concrete, and coal delivery and sorting plant.

The station's boiler house houses three 380 MWth International Combustion boilers, which are fueled by pulverised bituminous coal. Each of these provide steam for on of three 140 megawatt (MW) Parsons turbo-alternators, situated in the station's turbine hall. These give the station a total generating capacity of 420 MW. The electricity generated is fed at 24 kilovolt (kV) to a substation which powers the smelter. The substation also has a 132 kV connection to the National Grid, where electricity is distributed to homes and other industries by Northern Electric Distribution Limited. The smelter's two pot lines only require 310 MW of the 420 MW that the power station produces, so it is the excess 110 MW which is fed into the national grid.

Between 1999 and 2000, the power station was given a turbine upgrade. In 2000, the station's condensers were also refurbished. The condenser refurbishment was carried out by Alstom. These improvements saw an increase in the station's generating capacity, thermal efficiency and MWh production.