Last evening, I visited Didcot A Power Station. This tour was arranged for councillors in the area to see how the power station operates at first hand. The site hosts two power stations - the 2,000MW dual-fired A station and the 1,360MW combined cycle gas turbine B station. The photo on the left shows the cooling towers for Didcot A and the photo on the right shows the grid for the electricity generated on site. Together, the two power stations are capable of producing enough electricity to meet the needs of over 3 million people - equivalent to the demand of three counties the size of Oxfordshire.
Didcot A began commercial operation in 1970 as a coal-fired power station and it now has the capability of dual-operation with other materials including biomass. We visited the control room, the turbine room and the coal store where the trains come in daily to offload the fuel. However, the station is due to be decommissioned in 2015. There has been some discussion recently about what will happen to the site. The other question has to be - how will these cooling towers be demolished?
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