Megawatt Valley is a term applied to a geographic location which houses a large number of electricity generating stations. Historically in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

this applied to the coal-fired power stations of the lower

Trent Valley The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...

. In the mid-1980s, the valley's 13 facilities generated up to a quarter of the power demand for

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

. A shift to gas-fired power stations saw many of the Megawatt Valley facilities close down. The term was then associated with an area of Yorkshire centred on the River Aire that was home to Ferrybridge C,

Eggborough Eggborough is a village and civil parish, in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, close to the county borders with South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the East Riding effectively making it the meeting point for all sides of Yorkshire ...

and Drax power stations. Of these facilities only Drax remains in operation. In the United States the term has been applied to an area of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, home to five power stations.

Trent Valley

Power In Trust sculpture (geograph 4882572)

Megawatt Valley was a term originally applied to the

. The area was developed in the 1960s by the nationalised

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 ...

(CEGB). Many coal power stations were constructed on or near the banks of the River Trent and a major overhead power line network was constructed to supply

Southern England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...

. This construction coincided with a move by CEGB to shift the location of power generation from smaller city-based power stations to rural locations. These were more efficient as they could be larger, closer to fuel sources and cooling water supplies. The Trent Valley was ideal due its proximity to the Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire coal fields and ready supply of water from the Trent. Power stations in Megawatt Valley included

High Marnham High Marnham is a village within the Marnham civil parish in Bassetlaw district, of the county of Nottinghamshire, England. The village lies in the north east of the county, south east within the district and east of the parish. It is 122 mil ...

in Nottinghamshire which, at 1000MW, was the largest power station in Europe when it was opened in October 1962, and was fed by 17 different collieries. In 1986 the valley was home to 13 of the 78 power stations in England and Wales and was responsible for up to a quarter of all power generated in the same area. This was the largest concentration of power generation in Europe. It was said that by the late 1960s the waters of the Trent were noticeably warmer than those of comparable rivers owing to heat transfer from the

cooling water Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and non ...

. The sculpture ''Power in Trust'' by

Norman Sillman Norman Henry Sillman, Royal College of Art, ARCA, FRBS (4 May 1921 – 18 July 2013) was a British sculptor and a coin designer, including the One pound (British coin), one pound coins for the Royal Mint.Staythorpe B Power Station. It remains on the site of the former coal-fired power station and has been described as a monument to the pioneers of Megawatt Valley. The five surviving cooling towers at the long-closed

Willington Power Station Willington Power Station is a pair of now decommissioned and partly demolished coal-fired power stations that were constructed in the 1950s. The two stations were built on a site off Twyford Road, between Willington and Findern in Derbyshire ...

were preserved from demolition due to the presence of nesting birds. They remain a notable landmark to travellers along the Trent and have been cited as a monument to the importance of the Trent to Megawatt Valley. A 1989 paper written by the Chairman of

East Midlands Electricity The East Midlands Electricity Board (EMEB) was formed in 1947 as one of the United Kingdom's twelve area electricity boards specified under the Electricity Act 1947. In 1990 it was floated on the stock market as East Midlands Electricity plc, w ...

, then on the brink of privatisation, stated that until that point British electricity generation had relied on large-scale coal plant as seen at Megawatt Valley. He provided a vision of the future where generation moved away from coal to cheaper means, such as gas. This switch began to be made in the 1990s, during the so-called

Dash for Gas The Dash for Gas was the 1990s shift by the newly privatized companies in the electricity sector of the United Kingdom towards generation of electricity using natural gas. Gas consumption peaked in 2001 and has been in decline since 2010. The key ...

, and led to the closure of many coal-fired plants, including those in Megawatt Valley. Only

Ratcliffe-on-Soar Ratcliffe-on-Soar is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire on the River Soar. It is part of the Rushcliffe district, and is the site of Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. Nearby places are Kingston on Soar, Kegworth and Trentlock. With a ...

, and West Burton remain in service of the coal-fired power stations in the Megawatt Valley (as of 2020). These plants have

flue-gas desulphurisation Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) is a set of technologies used to remove sulfur dioxide () from exhaust flue gases of fossil-fuel power plants, and from the emissions of other sulfur oxide emitting processes such as waste incineration. Methods ...

units which supply gypsum for plasterboard manufacture. The pulverised fly ash (PFA) generated by the power stations was, until the 1980s, used to fill the majority of sand and gravel workings in the Trent Valley. This practice reduced following the wider use of in manufacture and the closure of Megawatt Valley power stations. There remains a concern amongst some residents that the old coal power stations will be replaced by other forms of generation such as wind turbines and that Megawatt Valley will continue to be viewed as a place where visual intrusion by energy assets is acceptable.

List of coal power stations in the lower Trent Valley

Richard Stone, in his book ''The River Trent'' (2005), provides the limits of Megawatt Valley as Meaford – near Stone, Staffordshire – at the upstream end and Keadby – near

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A pre ...

, Lincolnshire at the downstream end. This includes the following coal-fired power stations – some of these sites have had gas-fired units installed, these are not listed.

Staffordshire

* Meaford A (1948–1974) * Meaford B (1957–1990) * Rugeley A (1961–1995) * Rugeley B (1970–2016) *

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011, it had a ...

(1894–1976)

Derbyshire

* Drakelow A (1955–1984) * Drakelow B (1960–1993) * Drakelow C (1964–2003) * Willington A (1957–1994) * Willington B (1960–1999)

Leicestershire

Castle Donington Castle Donington is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, on the edge of the National Forest and close to East Midlands Airport. History The name 'Donington' means 'farm/settlement connected with Dunna'. Another suggest ...

(1958–1995)

Nottinghamshire

(1968–) * Wilford (1925–1981) *

Holme Pierrepoint Holme Pierrepont is a hamlet and civil parish located south-east of the city of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is in the Gamston ward of the Rushcliffe local authority in the East Midlands region. The population of the civil parish ...

(proposed 1960, not built) * Staythorpe A (1950–1983) * Staythorpe B (1962–1994) *

(1962–2003) * Cottam (1968–2019) * West Burton (1966–)

Lincolnshire

Keadby __NOTOC__ Keadby is a small village in North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated just off the A18, west of Scunthorpe, and on the west bank of the River Trent. Keadby is in the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire. The appropriate civil p ...

(1952–1984) Upstream of Richard Stone's geographical limit at Meaford is

Stoke-on-Trent power station Stoke-on-Trent power station supplied electricity to the county borough and later city of Stoke-on-Trent, England and the surrounding area from 1913 to the 1960s. The power station was initially owned and operated by Stoke-on-Trent Corporation, ...

(1913–1960s), located adjacent to the river Trent.

Later use of the term

3 power stations January morning - geograph

After many of the Trent Valley power stations closed the epithet Megawatt Valley began to be used for a section of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

between Leeds, York and Doncaster. This was due to the presence of Ferrybridge C (1966–2016),

(1967–2018) and Drax (1974–) coal-fired power stations. This was one of the few remaining concentrations of coal-fired generation in the UK; the power stations being located close to historic coal-mining sites on the

South Yorkshire Coalfield The South Yorkshire Coalfield is so named from its position within Yorkshire. It covers most of South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and a small part of North Yorkshire. The exposed coalfield outcrops in the Pennine foothills and dips under Permian ro ...

and to the River Aire. Drax is a large power station capable of generating 7% of UK electricity demand and, despite being the UK's cleanest and most-efficient coal-fired power station is Europe's biggest single source of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

emissions. The term Megawatt Valley, in relation to the Yorkshire power stations, has been mentioned ("What ever happened to The Megawatt Valley? It pumped out the sounds to the avenues and alleys") in the song ''Two Lane Texaco'' by the folk band

My Darling Clementine ''My Darling Clementine'' is a 1946 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp during the period leading up to the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The ensemble cast also features Victor Mature (as Doc Hollid ...

. The term has also been used in reference to a location in

, United States, where five plants are located, totalling some 6000 megawatts of generating capacity. This includes the Mountaineer Power Plant, in Mason County and four nearby plants.

References

{{coord, 53.0, -1.0, region:GB, display=title Electric power infrastructure in England Power stations in the East Midlands River Trent Science and technology in Nottinghamshire