Uskmouth B power station (or
Uskmouth Power as it is now known) 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 pound;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 (
Scottish and Southern Energy plc) in 2009 for pound;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.
The station was one of the cleanest coal-fired power stations in the
United Kingdom, and was fitted with
Flue Gas Desulphurisation equipment and low
NOx burners. It also burns
biomass, as well as coal, for its emissions to be considered closer to being
carbon neutral. The station does not take water from or dump waste water into the River Usk. It instead uses
secondary treated sewage water in its cooling system.
The station employed 90 people. It has been awarded
RoSPA Gold Award for Occupational Health and Safety for its efforts to ensure station safety.
The station was earmarked for closure in 2014 and subsequently mothballed. However, in 2015, plans were announced to instead convert the station to run fully on pellets of
biomass and waste plastic, as part of a scheme to regenerate the area and create hundreds of jobs.These plans have since taken priority and as a result, Uskmouth has seen very infrequent use as a coal plant; with April 2017 being the last occasion.
In 2017, Atlantis Energy joined a partnership to undertake this transformation by 2020.
