History - Construction of the A station started in 1956.The station's generating sets were commissioned between 1961 and 1962.The station was the first joint venture between the Central electricity generating board CEGB) and the National coal board (NCB). The station took coal directly from the neighbouring Lea Hall Colliery by conveyor belt.This was the first such arrangement in Britain. The colliery was put into production some 6 months before the first generating unit was commissioned in the power station. The station was officially opened on 1 October 1963 by Lord Robens of Woldingham and sir Christopher hinton.
The first of the five cooling towers to be completed at Rugeley in 1960 was the world's first large dry cooling tower, and the first large scale experiment with a design aimed at eliminating water loss.The dry tower was commissioned in 1962 but its capital and operating costs were considerably higher than a conventional wet tower. No further dry towers were constructed in the UK.On occasions this tower was used by the RAF for parachute development. Rugeley A was also the first power station in Britain to be controlled entirely from a central control room.The total cost of building it was £30 million.
Construction of Rugeley B power station began in 1965, with completion of the station in 1972. The architects were L.K. Watson and H. J. Coates.The architects coloured two of the four cooling towers a pinkish red colour to heighten what they saw as the femininity of the hyperbolic form.With both stations in operation, 850 people were employed at the stations in 1983.
The two stations were initially operated by the central electricity generating board but following privatisation in 1990, were handed over to national power.The Lea Hall colliery was closed on 24 January 1991, meaning all coal burned in the stations needed to be delivered by rail.Rugeley B was supplied with fuel via branch off the adjacent Cannock and Rugeley railway line, near to its connection with the West Coast Main Line. Rail facilities included a west-facing junction on the Rugeley line, A and B sidings, gross-weight and tare-weight weighbridges, a hopper house, an oil siding, a hopper bypass line and a run-round loop.A couple of years later the closure of the A station began. Two of the station's generating units were decommissioned in 1994, with the other three following in 1995.Having burned nearly 42 million tonnes of coal in its lifetime, the station was demolished later in 1995.
In July 1996 the rugeley B power station was bought by Eastern Generation, itself acquired by TXU Europe. Rugeley B was subsequently sold to International Power plc in July 2001.It remains under the same ownership, though International Power later merged with GDF Suez in 2011.
Construction of a Flue has desulfurization plant started in early 2007 and it was commissioned at the B station in 2009. This allowed the station to comply with environmental legislation in force at the time and continue generating electricity.
146 people were employed in the station.
In March 2012 Rugeley Power Ltd announced it would be considering a conversion to run using biomass fuel.In December 2013, Rugeley Power Ltd said they have scrapped the proposed biomass conversion.
The explore - this was quite a tough one to gain access to,we arrived mid afternoon and surveyed the area noticing signs for dogs,security at the gates,camera all around the site and a sturdy metal fence surrounding most of the area.we decided we were still going to explore this location and took our time with gaining access,it took a couple of hours but we managed to get in and avoid the camera and regular patrolling security vehicles(we counted at least 3 on site 2 we vans with dogs in as we later found out first hand).
We explored the area for a good few hours being cautious trying to avoid the security,there has been quite a bit of demolition on this site.
One end of the site is still in use for police firearms training luckily they wasn’t training on this day.
After exploring the remaining buildings we detour to try and gain access to the cooling towers trying each one but each one we tried was sealed shut and no way in and unfortunately as we finished checking the last one we were caught by one of the security vans.
They immediately came out with there dogs and told us to stay where we were and wait for the police to arrive,they were very friendly and after we explained what our intentions were to them and the police the drove us off site(to the opposite end where we parked a good 20minute walk).
All in all was a decent days explore gutted we didn’t get in a cooling tower but there’s always next time and plenty more on the list.
The first of the five cooling towers to be completed at Rugeley in 1960 was the world's first large dry cooling tower, and the first large scale experiment with a design aimed at eliminating water loss.The dry tower was commissioned in 1962 but its capital and operating costs were considerably higher than a conventional wet tower. No further dry towers were constructed in the UK.On occasions this tower was used by the RAF for parachute development. Rugeley A was also the first power station in Britain to be controlled entirely from a central control room.The total cost of building it was £30 million.
Construction of Rugeley B power station began in 1965, with completion of the station in 1972. The architects were L.K. Watson and H. J. Coates.The architects coloured two of the four cooling towers a pinkish red colour to heighten what they saw as the femininity of the hyperbolic form.With both stations in operation, 850 people were employed at the stations in 1983.
The two stations were initially operated by the central electricity generating board but following privatisation in 1990, were handed over to national power.The Lea Hall colliery was closed on 24 January 1991, meaning all coal burned in the stations needed to be delivered by rail.Rugeley B was supplied with fuel via branch off the adjacent Cannock and Rugeley railway line, near to its connection with the West Coast Main Line. Rail facilities included a west-facing junction on the Rugeley line, A and B sidings, gross-weight and tare-weight weighbridges, a hopper house, an oil siding, a hopper bypass line and a run-round loop.A couple of years later the closure of the A station began. Two of the station's generating units were decommissioned in 1994, with the other three following in 1995.Having burned nearly 42 million tonnes of coal in its lifetime, the station was demolished later in 1995.
In July 1996 the rugeley B power station was bought by Eastern Generation, itself acquired by TXU Europe. Rugeley B was subsequently sold to International Power plc in July 2001.It remains under the same ownership, though International Power later merged with GDF Suez in 2011.
Construction of a Flue has desulfurization plant started in early 2007 and it was commissioned at the B station in 2009. This allowed the station to comply with environmental legislation in force at the time and continue generating electricity.
146 people were employed in the station.
In March 2012 Rugeley Power Ltd announced it would be considering a conversion to run using biomass fuel.In December 2013, Rugeley Power Ltd said they have scrapped the proposed biomass conversion.
The explore - this was quite a tough one to gain access to,we arrived mid afternoon and surveyed the area noticing signs for dogs,security at the gates,camera all around the site and a sturdy metal fence surrounding most of the area.we decided we were still going to explore this location and took our time with gaining access,it took a couple of hours but we managed to get in and avoid the camera and regular patrolling security vehicles(we counted at least 3 on site 2 we vans with dogs in as we later found out first hand).
We explored the area for a good few hours being cautious trying to avoid the security,there has been quite a bit of demolition on this site.
One end of the site is still in use for police firearms training luckily they wasn’t training on this day.
After exploring the remaining buildings we detour to try and gain access to the cooling towers trying each one but each one we tried was sealed shut and no way in and unfortunately as we finished checking the last one we were caught by one of the security vans.
They immediately came out with there dogs and told us to stay where we were and wait for the police to arrive,they were very friendly and after we explained what our intentions were to them and the police the drove us off site(to the opposite end where we parked a good 20minute walk).
All in all was a decent days explore gutted we didn’t get in a cooling tower but there’s always next time and plenty more on the list.
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