Llynfi power station supplied electricity to the Bridgend area of Glamorgan South Wales from 1943 to 1977. The coal-fired station was originally built and operated by the South Wales Power Company Limited to supply electricity to munitions factories during the Second World War. It was completed by the post-nationalisation

British Electricity Authority The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established as the central British electricity authority in 1948 under the nationalisation of Great Britain's electricity supply industry enacted by the Electricity Act 1947. The BEA was responsible for ...

in 1951, and was later operated by the

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...

. The power station was closed in 1977 and was subsequently demolished. There have been several proposals to redevelop the site.

History

Llanfi power station was built during the Second World War by the South Wales Power Company Limited. It was one of several power station built at this time, such as Birmingham Corporation’s Hams Hall B station, which the

Electricity Commissioners The Electricity Commissioners were a department of the United Kingdom government's Ministry of Transport, which regulated the electricity supply industry from 1920 until nationalisation in 1948. It was responsible for securing reorganisation on ...

and the

Central Electricity Board The United Kingdom Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established by the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926. It had the duty to supply electricity to authorised electricity undertakers, to determine which power stations would be 'selected' stations ...

were able to demonstrate were required to supply electricity to munitions factories. The South Wales Company also owned and operated Upper Boat power station. Llynfi power station (51°34'13"N 3°36'40"W) was built north of Bridgend adjacent to the Afon Llynfi and the Bridgend to

Maesteg Maesteg is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2011, Maesteg had a population of 20,612. The English translation of Mae ...

railway line which facilitated access to cooling water for the condensers and coal supplies for the boilers.

Equipment specification

The plant at Llynfi power station comprised: * 4 × 300,000 lb/h (37.8 kg/s)

Stirling boiler The Stirling boiler is an early form of water-tube boiler, used to generate steam in large land-based stationary plants. Although widely used around 1900, it has now fallen from favour and is rarely seen. Design Stirling boilers are one of the ...

s, working pressure 675 psi at 910 °F (46.6 bar at 488 °C). These were supplied with pulverised coal fuel produced for each boiler by 3 × 7.35 tons/h Babcock and Wilcox E44 mills. * Coal was supplied to the station via dedicated sidings connected to the Bridgend to Maesteg railway. * 4 × 30 MW

English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...

turbo-alternators, generating current at 11 kV. * Step-up transformers raised the voltage to 66 kV for local distribution. * Two

cooling tower A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and ...

s. One film reinforced concrete tower with a capacity of 2.5 million gallons per hour (3.16 m³/s). One film reinforced concrete tower with a capacity of 3.0 million gallons per hour (3.79 m³/s). The cooling tower built during the war was painted with camouflage. Evaporative water losses from the cooling towers was made-up with water from the adjacent Afon Llynfi. The generating sets were commissioned over several years: the first set in December 1943, the second in April 1944, the third in January 1951, and the final set in November 1951.

Operations

Upon

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of the British electricity supply industry in 1948 under the provisions of the ''

Electricity Act 1947 The Electricity Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 54.) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which nationalised, or bought into state control, the electricity supply industry in Great Britain. It established a central authority called t ...

'' (10-11 Geo. 6 c. 54) the South Wales Power Company Limited electricity undertaking was abolished, ownership of Llynfi power station was vested in the

, and subsequently the

Central Electricity Authority The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) was a body that managed and operated the electricity supply industry in England and Wales between 1 April 1955 and 31 December 1957. The CEA replaced the earlier British Electricity Authority (BEA) as a r ...

and the

(CEGB). At the same time the electricity distribution and sales responsibilities of the electricity undertaking were transferred to the

South Wales Electricity Board SWALEC was an electricity supply and distribution company in South Wales, established in 1989 following the de-regulation of the electricity supply industry in the United Kingdom. The business has seen several changes of ownership from 1996, and ...

(SWALEC).

Operating data

Operating data for the period 1946–72 is shown in the table: Electricity output (GWh) from Llynfi power station. With a high

thermal efficiency In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency (\eta_) is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, steam turbine, steam engine, boiler, furnace, refrigerator, ACs etc. For a he ...

when it was new the station was used intensively during the 1950, with a load factor running hours approaching 100 per cent. It was used less intensively in the 1960s and 1970s.

Closure and proposals

Llynfi power station was decommissioned on 31 March 1977. There was a proposal in 1977 to use the power station to burn domestic and trade waste to generate electricity. The station would need to burn 460,000 tons per year of waste to make the scheme viable. The proposal was not taken forward. The plant and equipment was removed from the station soon after closure. The buildings were left although the cooling towers were demolished. In 2011 there was a proposal to burn biomass at the station. The biomass would be imported into Newport docks and the former railway sidings at Llynfi would be reinstated. Planning permission was granted by

Bridgend County Borough Council Bridgend County Borough Council ( cy, Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) is the governing body for Bridgend County Borough, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. History Bridgend County Borough and Bridgend County Borough Council came ...

but the plans were not developed. A further proposal to build a waste combustion plant was put forward in 2019. There were local concerns about increased traffic.

References