Newport Power Station

The only job I was left today was to hang the curtains in our bedroom and pin them up for shortening. They'll be ready to take tomorrow and hopefully it'll be done pretty swiftly.

Just as I thought I'd go for a walk on the mountain it absolutely hammered down - so I got in the car and went for a drive to see if anything grabbed my attention for a blip. On driving towards the coast road, going over a railway bridge near Duffryn, I saw Newport Power Station belting out some smoke. I took some pics and the chosen one is the one I like best from today.

Uskmouth 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 privitisation 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 (Scottish & Southern Energy) in 2009 for £27m.

The station is currently one of the cleanest coal-fired power stations in the UK. It employs 90 people and is now earmarked for closure. It has been used to film episodes of Dr Who in 2006 and 2011.