Cockenzie Power Station is set to shut and be rebuilt as gas instead of coal.
The artist's impression seems to show that it will look pretty similar - but with smaller chimneys (which can be seen from many parts of Edinburgh.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
Another landmark to go(?)
(14 posts)-
Posted 13 years ago # -
I'll miss those chimneys.
Posted 13 years ago # -
"I'll miss those chimneys."
So will I, but not sure why.
Subliminal navigation aid?
Posted 13 years ago # -
So its not being demolished then, just stripped out and new in-ards put in.
Posted 13 years ago # -
"Subliminal navigation aid?"
More than subliminal. You can even see the tops over the ridge in south East Lothian.
Also they have their own beauty though my wife disagrees on that.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Posted 13 years ago #
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Probably a decision bolstered by the arrival of fracking, without which the supply of gas would depend on imports. Or maybe in-place gasification of coal that is still in the ground?
Posted 13 years ago # -
More likely the cost of the new carbon trading scheme means that coal is becoming less and less attractive even as the price of gas rises.
Posted 13 years ago # -
No the news said it was in line with agreements to reduce carbon, coal being a dirty fuel. Does Natural Gas not give off carbon when burned then?
looking at the massive amount of water flowing under the forth bridges as i do most days, they ought to pus some tidal flow energy generation there. If fair hoons through at springs.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Not nearly as much, there are also less "other" environmental issues with gas.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Does Natural Gas not give off carbon when burned then?
Per unit of heat generated, brown coal emits 3 times as much CO2 as methane and black coal 2 times as much.
Levels of carbon monoxide from gas are about 1/8th for that of coal, NOxes are about 1/2 to a 1/3 of coal and sulphur dioxide is negligible. It also physically generates less flue gas and almost no particulate matter.
A modern combined-cycle gas-turbine powered station (buring gas to turn a gas turbine, then capturing the waste heat to generate steam to turn a steam turbine) is also vastly more efficient than a 1960s coal station. You can get 50-60% thermal efficiency in optimal operating conditions for CCGT. Coal is about 30-35%.
So it's good all round in those respects. What the gas costs and where it comes from, that's another thing. Bear in mind a lot of the coal for Cockenzie is imported from Russia - getting it here is not a clean and efficient business.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Posted 13 years ago #
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I don't think anyone will mourn the loss of the 40-year old coal-burner that it is on the inside, but the building itself is a highly-regarded piece of modern architecture by Robert Matthew and will be a great shame to see it and the chimneys pulled down. Its half-sister at Kincardine came down in the mid-to-late nineties.
I doubt it would be deemed echonomical to keep the existing structure if the gas power station goes ahead.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Could make it slightly easier to re-open South Sub to passengers as number of freight trains was used as one reason for it being 'difficult' to run a frequent service.
Posted 13 years ago #
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