Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station

Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station
Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station Viewed from the east in September 2002
Location of Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in Nottinghamshire
Country	England, United Kingdom
Location	Nottinghamshire, East Midlands
Coordinates	52°51′55″N 1°15′18″W / 52.865268°N 1.255°W / 52.865268; -1.255Coordinates: 52°51′55″N 1°15′18″W / 52.865268°N 1.255°W / 52.865268; -1.255
Status	Operational
Commission date	1968
Operator(s)	Central Electricity Generating Board (1968-1990) Powergen (1990-2002) E.ON UK (2002-present)
Thermal power station
Primary fuel	Coal
Power generation
Nameplate capacity	2,116 MW

Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Uniper at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, England. Commissioned in 1968 by the Central Electricity Generating Board, the station has a capacity of 2,000 MW.

The power station occupies a prominent position close to junction 24 of the M1, the River Trent and the Midland Main Line (adjacent to East Midlands Parkway station) and dominates the skyline for many miles around with its eight cooling towers and 199 m (653 ft) tall chimney. It has four coal-fired boilers made by Babcock & Wilcox, each of which drives a 500 megawatt (MW) Parsons generator set. This gives the station a total generating capacity of 2,116 MW, which is enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately 2.02 million homes.

Uniper has its Technology Centre at the site, where it carries out research and development on power generation.

The plant emits 8–10 million tonnes of CO₂ annually making it the 18th highest CO₂-emitting power station in Europe. Some 48 million cubic metres of cooling water is taken from the nearby River Trent. Evaporative losses through the eight cooling towers account for some 11 million cubic metres of that water.

Ratcliffe power station is compliant with the Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD), an EU directive that aims to reduce acidification, ground level ozone and particulates by controlling the emissions of sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and dust from large combustion plants. To reduce emissions of sulphur the plant is fitted with Flue Gas Desulphurisation, and also with a Boosted Over Fire Air system to reduce the concentration of oxides of nitrogen in the flue gas.