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 Hatfield Colliery Powerfuel's application for a 900 MW Power Generation Station and its impact on Stainforth and the surrounding area |
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Introduction Local assesment |
Details of the application Transmission line application Links & downloads |
The Last 25 Years |
In these days of heightened awareness of the consequences of global warming, any talk of building new power stations in Britain is bound to attract the attention of groups such as Greenpeace, who oppose the construction of any kind of power generation complex on the grounds of pollution, aesthetics, or politics. Whilst on the other hand, the people of Britain are suffering huge increases in the prices of gas and electricity, which the leading power producing companies blame on a shortfall of natural supplies. In ‘Meeting The Challenge', the Government white paper published in May 2007, the Government sets out its international and domestic energy strategy to respond to the circumstances presented by climate change and the need to provide clean and affordable energy through four energy policy goals. We are told their policy is: |
- to put ourselves on a path to cutting CO2 emissions by some 60% by about 2050, with real progress by 2020;
- to maintain the reliability of energy supplies;
- to promote competitive markets in the UK and beyond;
- to ensure that every home is adequately and affordably heated.
The white paper also says, ‘At home it is likely that the UK will need around 30-35GW of new electricity generation capacity over the next two decades and around two thirds of this capacity by 2020. This is because many of our coal and most of our existing nuclear power stations are set to close. And energy demand will grow over time, despite increased energy efficiency, as the economy expands.'
The Government aims to achieve this while spending less of the tax payer's money on new energy sources and encouraging private energy companies to invest more in Britain 's future energy requirements.
Since the 2003 version of this white paper was published, we have seen a rapidly changing world market for oil and gas, with prices rising faster and higher than at any other time. Today's power generating companies are expected to produce power that is renewable, cheap and friendly to the environment. Stringent guidelines state that electricity must be generated without having the same detrimental effect on the environment as the giant coal fired power stations of the past, and waste materials and pollutants must be trapped and disposed of safely, or even used in other industries.
 Thorpe Marsh Power Station - 2008 - Click to enlarge |
Powerfuel's proposed plans for Hatfield Colliery appear to have set out to meet these criteria. Whereas their original plans involved building a type of power station called a Coal Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant, (see 'Power to the people'), the proposed 900 MW station will involve using another technology, where synthesised gas, (SYNGAS) is obtained from coal and is used to ignite and start the boilers. It is believed that this will provide a cleaner burning method. |
Naturally, the main concerns to people living near the site are the effects the plant will have on the immediate area in terms of noise and the local ecology.
Heaton Planning Ltd, acting on behalf of Powerfuel PLC, have gone to some lengths to study just what effects there might be with these regards. They have produced a non technical summary, which has been reproduced with this article and which is also available to the general public as a pamphlet. However, the summary only scratches the surface of the studies carried out into the feasibility of Powerfuel's plans, and in Heaton Planning's larger and more detailed 'Environmental Statement' we find all possible issues are addressed.
The full findings of this report are too extensive to be included in the body of this web site, but you can view the complete report in the Public Viewing Room at Hatfield Colliery. Contact Powerfuel for more information: enquiries@powerfuel.plc.uk
Alternatively, a hard copy version is available from Heaton Planning Ltd at a cost of £150 inc.VAT.
Local issues...
After acquiring planning permission for a 430 MW power generation station on the Hatfield Colliery site, Powerfuel began the phase of their plans which involved moving millions of tonnes of colliery spoil.
| The purpose of this was to create a bank, or 'bunding' around the entire site and to clear the way for the creation of 'The Power Park', which is a complex capable of containing an extensive collection of industrial units and offices. Many of Stainforth's residents were somewhat taken aback at the size of the screening mounds which were erected between their homes and the colliery. After a year of getting used to seeing the banks, many now agree that they serve a dual purpose of keeping down noise levels from the site and, now that the banks have a covering of vegetation, keeping down the dust which was blown across the spoil heaps. |
 From Dunscroft / Hatfield |
 From the railway station |
 From East Lane playing fields |
Some residents I have spoken with have voiced concerns over public safety issues. From studying the information provided by Powerfuel and Heaton Planning, I can tell them that the proposed plant will be using the very latest technology available to produce energy cleanly and safely. In fact, such is the innovative design of the proposed plant that Stainforth could become a Mecca for representatives of power companies seeking enlightenment about clean coal technology from all over the globe.
How it will work.
The operation of the proposed plant is a far cry from that of the days when pulverised coal was simply blasted into the boilers at power stations similar to nearby Thorpe Marsh, with the resulting gasses escaping into the atmosphere. Section 3.3 of Heaton Planning's Environmental Statement describes the method in which the plant will function:
3.3 Operation of the Power Station Plant
Main Processes
3.3.1 The gasification process converts coal to a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and
carbon monoxide by causing it to react with oxygen at high pressure and temperature. This gas is referred to as “SYNGAS”. The raw coal feedstock from the mine is pre-processed by a milling and drying system to produce pulverised coal which facilitates the combustion process and enables pneumatic conveying of the feed.
3.3.2 The Air Separation Unit (ASU) provides pure oxygen for the combustion process and pure
 Isometric view from South East |
nitrogen for purging and inerting systems to ensure safe operation of the plant.This unit essentially compresses and cools air to high pressure and low temperature, sufficient to liquefy oxygen and nitrogen and allow separation by distillation columns. Due to the very low operating temperatures, these columns are installed in heavily insulated enclosures known as ‘cold boxes'. |
3.3.3 The SYNGAS produced by the gasifier trains is saturated with steam and passes to a set of catalytic reactors which convert the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and
produce additional hydrogen from the steam.
3.3.4 The carbon dioxide and any sulphur compounds (principally hydrogen sulphide)
produced in the combustion process are then absorbed from the SYNGAS stream in the Acid Gas Removal (AGR) section.
 Isometric view from North West |
This unit brings the gas into contact with a proprietary solvent, which absorbs the acid gas components, leaving the gas as a clean hydrogen-rich stream for use in the gas turbines downstream. The solvent, laden with carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, passes to a regeneration section, where selective changes in temperature and pressure enable the carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide to be liberated as separate streams. The regenerated solvent is then recycled to absorb more acid gas. |
3.3.5 The carbon dioxide stream can be compressed into a pipeline system for transfer to underground storage/use offsite, while the hydrogen sulphide stream passes to a sulphur recovery unit (SRU). The latter unit converts the hydrogen sulphide to elemental sulphur and recycles the remaining off-gas to the AGR unit. Elemental sulphur is a by-product which is exported from the plant.
 Isometric view from South West |
3.3.6 The hydrogen gas leaving the Acid Gas Removal system is diluted with nitrogen and combusted in two gas turbines, which in turn drive two electricity generators providing power for export to the national grid. The products of combustion are essentially steam and nitrogen which can be safely discharged to atmosphere after heat recovery. |
3.3.7 The products of combustion leaving the gas turbines, at very high temperature but low pressure, are cooled by a series of heat exchangers in a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG).
 Isometric view from North East |
This enables the heat recovered to generate high pressure steam which is used to drive a steam turbine, which in turn drives another electricity generator providing power for export to the grid. The cooled gas is finally discharged to atmosphere at sufficient height to thoroughly disperse the very small concentration of remaining contaminants. |
Stainforth and the Power Park
The main issue affecting Stainforth and the outlaying areas has to be the creation of the Power Park , which in turn will generate employment for the area. This map, taken from the Environmental Statement, outlines the planned use of the site and the areas designated for industrial units.
| A link road, connecting Stainforth with Junction 5 of the M18, was proposed in 1998. Since then there has been some doubt over whether or not the proposal would be accepted, but one can draw the conclusion that if the proposed Powerfuel development does come to fruition then a natural development from this would be the building of the link road. |  Click to enlarge |
This excerpt, regarding the link road, is taken from section 3.3.7 (ii) of the Environmental Statement Appendices:
3.3.7 (ii) Proposed link road
A link road was proposed in the Doncaster Unitary Development Plan (1998) and was the subject of a recent application. Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council has resolved to grant planning permission
for a link road between Junction 5 of the M18, south of the MSA, and the Power Park via a bridge crossing the railway line. Planning approval is subject to a section106 agreement which has been drafted, but is sufficiently likely to be granted that it has been included as part of the baseline of this assessment. The link road proposals include embankment to enable it to cross the railway line via a bridge, and tree planting along its route. |
 Click to enlarge |
Timeline
At the beginning of this new millennium the future of Stainforth looked very bleak indeed. It was a community showing the signs of severe neglect to its infrastructure and its inhabitants. Stainforth's once fine main shopping area of Station Road had become a wasteland, with a gaping hole where the heart of the village had been ripped out.
Hatfield Colliery was closed yet again for what appeared to be the final time and Stainforth was a community with no prospects and no future.
The only structure of some note to be erected during this time was the new store built by Stainforth Carpets, an already established Stainforth company. With its gleaming glass front and blue and silver sign looking modernistic in its dated surroundings, this was also the first two storey shop to be built in Stainforth. Unfortunately its presence didn't spark a commercial revival and many small businesses opened and closed with alarming rapidity on what remained of Stainforth's main shopping road.
In successive years Stainforth lost one of its main residential areas, when Kingsway and the adjoining regally named streets were demolished and long established families were uprooted and spread to the far corners of the borough.
Due to changes in the education system, Junction Road School , where most of the people in Stainforth began their educations, was closed and demolished.
Most of the pubs and working men's clubs, where Stainforth's proud miner's once washed the dust from their throats, were pulled down, the resulting piles of rubble left to the assailing roots of buddleia and rosebay willow herb. Eventually such areas became a health hazard because of broken glass and other detritus, left by fly tippers whose mission it is to constantly blight the streets of Stainforth.
In 2003 an unlikely saviour appeared in the form of ‘CoalPower', headed by Richard Budge, who was eyed with some suspicion by ex-miners who were accustomed to being wary and untrusting of private mine ownership. Yet, unlike all those who came before him, Richard Budge displayed a faith that Hatfield Colliery could be a going concern, that if money were invested in the mine then the mine and those who worked it would repay that trust.
 Coalpower offices, after being damaged by fire 2005 |
After his plans were accepted to build the ‘ Power Park ' in 2003 there was a small hiatus, during which time the people of Stainforth and the surrounding area thought that once again the plans for Hatfield had come to nothing. During this time ‘Coal Power' failed to attract the necessary investment to operate the mine, and things came to a drastic halt when the power and ventilation for the colliery were cut. The bottoms of the shafts were allowed to flood and the lack of air pressure allowed gasses to leak into the mine. |
It seemed that it would be only a matter of time before the headgears were pulled down and the shafts filled in forever.
In 2006, under the guidance of Richard Budge's new company ‘Powerfuel', Hatfield Colliery was brought back to life. Within a year the mine was once again producing coal and shortly afterwards it received the backing of Russian mining company Kuzbassrazrezugol (KRU), and shortly after that fuel giants Shell joined the company.
This renewed activity at Hatfield must have been noted with favour, because at the end of 2007, Danish supermarket company Netto decided to give the go-ahead for a new store to be built on the derelict remains of the Station Road commercial area. Prior to this, several housing projects had taken place, with houses being built on the land once occupied by Junction Road School and the site of the former clothing factory on Ramskir Lane . For over thirty years Stainforth had been in a spiralling decline, but now it looks as though a time of regeneration and prosperity lies ahead. |
 Works starts on creating the Power Park |
Stainforth now stands on the brink of what could be a miraculous revival. If all goes to plan, the time line and the envisaged timescale for the Hatfield development is approximately as follows:
- • 2007 – Coal Gasifier Licence signed with Shell
• 2007 – Letter of Intent signed with Air Products for ASU design, build, operate and gas supply
• 2007 - Agreement with National Grid to supply electricity to the grid from 2011
• 2007-2008 – Initial Power Station engineering design work
• 2008 – Obtaining s36 and s37 consents as well as pipeline consents
• 2008-2009 – Obtaining IPPC permit for operation of the station
• 2009-2011 – Constructing and commissioning the main “ Power Island ” based on the natural gas supply
• 2011 – Supplying electricity to the grid
• The construction of the larger coal IGCC is planned to follow on from commissioning of the Power Island and would run from 2010-2013.
The link road, joining the Power Park and Stainforth to the motorway network should also be completed in this time. The growth witnessed in other communities near to such access roads will in all likelihood be mirrored in Stainforth. The plan for Powerfuel's Power Park shows the intended layout for the construction of a large number of units which will be utilised by businesses that require cheap electricity and access to the motorway network. These need not be the traditional engineering or metalworking factories one usually associates with such industrial sites; today there are also call centres and computer based companies who require large amounts of electricity to operate, so the Powerfuel site could be ideal for the growth of IT based companies.
Powerfuel have shown immense faith in Hatfield Colliery. They have invested time and money on the site and have presented a plan which will secure the site's future and that of Stainforth and the outlaying communities for years to some. Hopefully this will instill a regrowth in pride in Stainforth, making it a community where people will want to come and live and raise their families.
Visit the STH Forum to read views from local people and people connected with the Stainforth area.
A hard copy of the Environmental Assesment is available from:
Heaton Planning Ltd, 9 The Square, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5JT
T:0115 9375552 – F:0115 9372876
£150 inc.VAT