Uskmouth power stations

The Uskmouth power stations refers to a series of two coal-fired power station at the mouth of the River Usk in the south-east of Newport, Wales. The first of the two station, Uskmouth A power station, was built in the 1950s and demolished in 2002. The second station, Uskmouth B power station, was built in the 1960s.Uskmouth AUskmouth A power station was built and opened in the early 1950s. It was closed on 26 October 1981 with a generating capacity of 228 megawatts. The station was demolished in 2002Uskmouth BUskmouth B power station was built in 1959. It has a generating capacity of 363 MW, which is enough to power 360,000 homes, or the surrounding area of Newport. The electricity is provided by three generating sets. It is situated in an essential position for the National Grid, as there are very few power stations situated in the south of Wales. Initially operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board, the station's operations were handed over to National Power with privatisation in 1990. The station was then closed in 1995. But in 1998, it was purchased by AES. The station was given a £120 million refurbishment to bring it up to date with legislative requirements. New environmental equipment was installed and it was given a refurbishment which is thought to have extended the station's life by 25 years. The station's generating capacity was also increased to 393 MW. In 2001 the work was completed and the station was reopened. However, only a year later the plant passed into receivership, but had a brief period of operating in the winter between 2003 and 2004. In June 2004 the station was put back into full operation, when it was bought by Welsh Power, who were then known as Carron Energy. Welsh Power sold it to SSE in 2009 for £27m. In April 2013 one of the three remaining blocks was closed, so the power station has now a remaining generation capacity of 260 MW.