Deeside Power Station
Deeside Power Station is a power station on the Deeside Industrial Park to the north of Connah's Quay in Flintshire, Wales. Constructed as a 498 MWe combined-cycle gas plant, it is now used to provide inertial response and reactive power services to the grid.
It is a mile from the 1,420 MW Connah's Quay Power Station, owned by Uniper. The power stations are separated by the Flintshire Bridge.
History
Deeside power station is sited on land of a former British Steel Corporation steelworks, and was commissioned in November 1994, costing £200 million. Built by Alstom for National Power, it is now owned by Triton Power.In April 2002, 250 MW of capacity at the plant was mothballed when the price of electricity dropped. The station resumed full power in October 2003.
In March 2018, the plant was again mothballed, and in January 2020 it was awarded a contract to supply the National Grid with inertial response and reactive power services. Work to repurpose the turbines began in March 2020, with specialist new turbine blocks installed, and the modified plant entered service in 2021. It is believed to be the first conversion of a gas power station to provide standalone grid stability services.
In 2022, part of the building, which housed the Heat Recovery Steam Generator, needed to be deconstructed as part of the power station's transition from a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine configuration to an Open Cycle Gas Turbine configuration.