Coal Power Station

Ratcliff on-Soar power station became part of Powergen PLC during the privatisation of the electrical industry in 1990. Ratcliff is a 2000MW coal-fired power station and can meet the needs of approximately 2 million people.
However coal power is no longer the main source of energy used to produce electricity due to its inefficiency. Natural gas is now the most commonly used source of energy used to create electricity in the UK. Subsequently Ratcliff isn’t used at full power very regularly.
The power station consists of 4 turbo generators each capable of generating over 500mW at full output. While on full output Ratcliff can burn up to 6 million tonnes of coal in a single year. Most of the coal is delivered by rail in 32-tonne wagons, these wagons are then automatically emptied as they pass through the station sidings and stored in the track hopper where the coal is emptied onto an underground conveyor which takes the coal up to the boiler bunkers for immediate use. Before...