Northfleet Power Station

Northfleet Power Station was a coal-fired, later oil-fired, power station on the south bank of the Thames at Northfleet, Kent. Opened in 1963, it was converted to burn oil in the early 1970s, and closed in 1991.

The station opened in 1963; its total electrical capacity was 720 MW comprising six 120 MW generating units. A 120 MW Unit comprised a coal-fired boiler supplying high-pressure steam to a GEC three-cylinder reheat steam turbine, which in turn powered a hydrogen-cooled 120 MW alternator. Each unit had its own control room interposed between the boiler and turbine manned by a unit operator and an assistant unit operator. They in turn were assisted by two auxiliary plant attendants, one for the boiler, the other for the turbine plant. The electrical output of each unit, and therefore the station, was co-ordinated by a single load dispatch office who were in contact with grid control at East Grinstead. The electrical output of the station was routed by cables and overhead conductors to two grid sub stations, Northfleet East and Northfleet West, where the station fed the national grid. At full load each boiler consumed 50 tonnes of coal per hour, which was delivered by ship, first to a coal yard then to bunkers that fed cylindrical ball mills to create pulverised fuel, which was then blown into the boiler furnace. The steam conditions were 510 °C at 1500 psi. The design of this station can be considered the founding development of ever larger boiler / turbine units.

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