Langage Power Station is a combined-cycle power plant near the city of

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England.

Centrica Centrica plc is a British  multinational energy and services company with its headquarters in Windsor, Berkshire, England. It is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the United Kingdom, and one of the largest suppliers ...

, the original owners of the site, announced on 16 June 2006 that the

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

fired

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

was to be constructed on their behalf by

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

. Section 36 consent was granted in 2000 and Reserved Matters were approved in 2005. The 885 MW plant was expected to cost £400 million and to start generating in early 2009, but problems with internal pipework pushed this back. The power station was completed and operations started in March 2010. Langage was set to be the first

fossil fuel power station A fossil fuel power station is a thermal power station that burns fossil fuel, such as coal, oil, or natural gas, to produce electricity. Fossil fuel power stations have machines that convert the heat energy of combustion into mechanical ene ...

built in the UK since 2005, but due to delays it was preceded by Marchwood Power Station, which was commissioned in 2009. Multiple other CCGT stations were also commissioned around this time, including

Pembroke Power Station Pembroke Power Station is a 2,200 MWe natural gas-fired power station near Pembroke in Wales. The power station was officially opened in September 2012 and is the second largest gas-fired power station in Europe. It is also the largest po ...

and West Burton B. The station was commissioned against an expected ' energy gap' in UK generating capacity, caused by the expected closure of

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and older coal-fired stations. The power station had permission to build three gas-powered turbines when it bought the site in 2004, but due to land constraints they were only able to build two. The plant uses two

GT26

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

s, each driving an air-cooled

turbogenerator A turbo generator is an electric generator connected to the shaft of a turbine (water, steam, or gas) for the generation of electric power. Large steam-powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also u ...

, with a heat recovery steam generator powering a single STF30C

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

which also drives another air-cooled turbogenerator.

put the plant up for sale in May 2014, stating an aim to invest in smaller, more flexible power stations. On 21 June 2017, Centrica agreed to sell the power station to EP UK Investments as part of a deal that also saw South Humber Bank CCGT power station change hands between the two companies. EP UK Investments is the daughter company of EP Power Europe, which is 100% owned by

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energy group EPH (owned by Daniel Křetínský). The UK high pressure national gas pipeline network (the

National Transmission System The United Kingdom's National Transmission System (NTS) is the network of gas pipelines that supply gas to about forty power stations and large industrial users from natural gas terminals situated on the coast, and to gas distribution companies ...

) was extended to Plymouth in 1989 (Feeder No.20 terminates at an Above Ground Installation (AGI) south of Smithaleigh). Langage Power Station was built to exploit the availability of high pressure gas and the station now represents the southernmost gas-fired station on the network.

References

Natural gas-fired power stations in England Power stations in South West England Energetický a průmyslový holding {{UK-powerstation-stub

See also

References