- Bishop Hill blog

SSE's Ferrybridge C power station in Yorkshire is currently on fire. As this picture suggests, it's a big one.

There has been some speculation that it may have something to do with the renewables activities on the site. The main plant now cofires with biomass and there is a dedicated mixed-fuel power station on site too. However, word on Twitter is that the fire is actually in the flue gas desulphurisation plant which has been installed for two of the operating units in the main power station. If you look at Google Earth you can see the relevant part of the power station.

The more interesting aspect of the story is what it means for grid margins. Ferrybridge C has a 2GW capacity, which represents a substantial chunk of peak winter demand. There are reports of explosions on site at the moment, so heaven alone knows how long it will be out of action.

Better pray for a mild winter.

Update on Jul 31, 2014 by

Bishop Hill

The Telegraph's Emily Gosden has just tweeted that restart by winter is unlikely.

Gulp.

Update on Jul 31, 2014 by

Bishop Hill

A statement from SSE suggests that one of the generating units is out for the medium term:

Early indications show the fire itself started in unit 4 but also had some impact on Unit 3. Currently we do not expect Unit 4 to return to service in this financial year. Unit 3 is not expected to return to service before 1 November.

I guess 0.5GW down is better than 2GW down.