Delicate Dependency | John Downes
A Landscape in the Balance John Downes
The project stemmed from the conflict of the UK’s demand for energy and how this has defined our modern landscape. Through visual observations I hope the work can give an insight into how dependent we are on a delicate balance between the energy demands and preservation of the natural landscape, and the likely implications that new developments will have on the future of the British Isles countryside. The work produced for this environmental project is a response to the reality that society has chosen to ignore. Often isolated and shielded from view the structures shown are only in existence
to fulfil the demand for energy that a modern civilisation needs to sustain itself. Structures fundamentally that people have grown to accept but are still viewed negatively, regardless of their requirement to maintain their lifestyles. The work has not been compiled to either condemn or glorify the structures shown, it purely serves as a record of the current situation to reflect upon. The project encompasses most forms of energy generation and includes Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) Facilities: both importation and production, Coal and Nuclear Power Station’s, and Wind Farms. All of which have changed and shaped
the landscape although differently and to differing degrees. Some of the structures shown are coming towards the end of their life and will fade away. These structures have spent a lifetime characterizing the surrounding areas but soon will disappear, like the LNG facilities. Others, such as Nuclear Power Stations, will become virtually modern relics in the landscape, left for potentially hundreds of years until they are safe to demolish after the reactors have decayed to a safe state. The UK’s domestic energy consumption increased by 32% between 1970 and 2001
and by 19% between 1990 and 2001 alone [1]. This clearly demonstrates that the UK’s need for electrical energy is only going to rise and with an ever-growing population the effects of this increase will become more and more evident in the landscape. All of the work shown has been provided with extended captions, offering more information about the structures depicted and some background history. The work is presented as large prints to mimic the impact that the structures have on the landscape. [1] Source: DTI Energy Consumption in the UK, July 2002
Coal
Supports 28% of UK’s energy demand
The power station located in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, is in fact comprised of two different power stations, Didcot A; a coal and oil power plant, and Didcot B; a natural gas power plant. The iconic cooling towers stand at ninety nine metres and have dominated the landscape ever since their construction. Didcot A sits on three hundred acres of land that in 1968 became a fully functioning site with the capacity to produce 2000MW of electrical energy, enough to meet the demand of two million households [1]. The final cost of the construction totalled £104 million and employed two thousand four hundred its peak. Although improving the economy and providing local jobs the site has not been without controversy. Firstly, in 2006, thirty Greenpeace campaigners invaded the site and chained themselves to the machinery, successfully shutting it down with their efforts. They felt the site was an ideal target as it was the second highest polluting power station in the UK behind the largest Power Station in the country, Drax in Yorkshire [2]. The Second protest was in 2009 when nine local people attempted to repeat the demonstration of 2006 but it was unsuccessful [3]. They were protesting against the plans for the owners, RWE group, to build as thirty new coal fired
stations across Europe including an extra two in the UK. Didcot B was more recently completed in 1997 and has the capacity to produce 1460MW of electricity from its two gas turbines and steam recovery generators. It is more efficient and subsequently more environmentally friendly than the coal fired Didcot A and after completion of a £60 million project to update the turbines it has increased in efficiency by 55%, now one of the highest in the UK [4]. Didcot A is now reaching the end of its life as it has chosen to opt out of the Large Combustion Plant Directive, a strict set of environmental compliance legislation that sets a limit for the amount of emissions a site can emit. It has been allowed 20,000 hours of operational time until its compulsory closure by the end of 2015 [5]. [1] Taken from http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/ en/320870/rwe-npower/about-us/our-businesses/ power-generation/didcot/didcot-a/ [2] Source: EU Emissions trading figures http:// ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets/index_en.htm [3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/ oct/28/didcot-power-station-protest-ends [4] http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/en/320906/rwenpower/about-us/our-businesses/power-generation/ didcot/didcot-b/ [5] Didcot Power Stations Leaflet 2011 by nPower an RWE Company
Nuclear
Supports 18% of UK’s energy demand
Oldbury Nuclear Power Station, Gloucestershire, opened in 1967 on a fifty one hectares site by the river Avon. It has two of the first generation Magnox reactors that had the capacity to produce 626MW of electrical energy. Reactor 1 opened in September of that year followed by Reactor 2 in April of 1968. It was the first site in the UK to use prestressed concrete pressure vessels, which considerably reduced the building costs [1]. Although they were originally intended to produce 626MW of power, the reactors had to be limited as the carbon dioxide used as a coolant in the reactor was getting too hot and was causing steel corrosion. This drop in temperature resulted in a reduction of the power output, to 424MW and subsequently to 400MW but increased the stability and safety of the site. The power was slowly increased up to an operational output of 434MW in 1983 that it sustained until 2008 [2]. Decommissioning was planned for 2008 but the site was granted a license to continue generation for two years. Reactor 2 was finally turned off on the 30th June 2011 followed by Reactor 1 on the 29th February 2012 as they reached the end of their operational lives. After fourty four years of operation, nearly twenty years more than originally planned, the site
generated over 137.5 TWh of electricity, enough to power one million homes for over twenty years [3]. Interestingly the cooling silt lagoons formed in the Severn estuary around the Oldbury site are used as a high tide roosting site for birds, over one hundred and ninety nine have been recorded so far [4]. It is good to see that knock-on effects of the safety measures in operation are protecting the nature surrounding the site. To my surprise and joy I heard a cuckoo when I visited the site in May 2012. The decommissioning of the site will take at least another eighty years as the reactors need to cool to a safe temperature and stabilise. I hope the environmental care and commitment, evident while the station was operational will continue as Oldbury becomes a monument of its industrial past. [1] Taken from Going Critical: An Unofficial History of British Nuclear Power (1985) by W. Patterson [2] Taken from the Report by HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (Health and Safety Executive) on the results of Magnox Long Term Safety Reviews (LTSRs) and Periodic Safety Reviews (PSRs) (2000) [3] See magnoxsites.com/our-sites/oldbury for more information [4] For further reading about birds sighted around Oldbury look up The Birds of Olbury Power Station Silt Lagoons (2007) by A. Middleton.
Renewable Energy
Supports 6% of UK’s energy demand
The wind farm situated in Delabole, Cornwall, was originally intended for nuclear development but the Cornish locals opposed the plans and with intervention from the Edward’s family who helped fund the project the site was reconsidered for its potential to harness wind power. It was the first commercial wind farm to be built in the UK in 1991 and was comprised of ten fifty metre high turbines with a maximum output of 400kw each, enough to power 2700 homes [1]. The site in December 2009 went through a stage of redevelopment costing £11.8 million funded by Good Energy, taking down the ten old Vista turbines and replacing them with four new Enercon turbines. They stand at ninety nine metres high and produce 2.3MW of electricity each, five times more powerful than their predecessors. Interestingly they shipped the old turbines to Lithuania to continue producing electrical energy, thereby recycling the renewable energy [2]. The total operational output of the new turbines even with 6 less of them produces 9.2MW, enough to supply over 7800 homes [3]. They together save fourteen thousand tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere every
year. Cornwall’s council has chosen to embrace sustainable energy and plans by 2020 to have reduced its greenhouse gases by 30-35%, meet 20% of its demands with renewable energy and increase their energy efficiency by 20%. I like the idea of renewable energy because it does not damage the environment with harmful emissions. However, something that struck me was that these wind turbines produce a tiny percentage of electricity compared to major power stations. Didcot’s cooling towers have a large visual impact yet they are just as tall as the Delabole wind turbines but the station produces much more power. The number of wind turbines required to generate a comparable amount of energy to Didcot would be over a thousand and I think this would impact the landscape far more so than a contained nuclear site like Oldbury. [1] http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/what-we-aredoing/investing-in-renewables/delabole-wind-farmredevelopment/history-of-delabole [2] http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/energy-industry/ lighting-up-britain/good-energy-delabole-wind-farm. html [3] http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cornwall/hi/people_ and_places/newsid_8928000/8928007.stm
Gas Burning and Storage
Supports 45% of UK’s energy demand, 20% Imported.
The National Grid Liquid Natural Gas Partington site is near Stockport and was originally developed by the Manchester Corporation to provide gas for Central Manchester and the surrounding area. In 1930, it began producing gas from coal and continued to do so after Nationalisation in 1948, although production then began to decline. In the early 1960’s oil reforming plants were built as the process of manufacturing gas from coal was being phased out due to the discovery of North Sea oil. By 1971 the site commenced its last change of construction becoming a fully functioning LNG facility in 1977. LNG sites were also strategically built in Glenmavis: Scotland, Avonmouth: the South West, Dynevor Arms: Wales and the Isle of Grain: Kent. They were located at the extremities of the UK network to provide gas when the demand was high and were considered more efficient than building additional pipeline capacity [1]. Its secondary function, as an LNG site, was to be a contingency backup should the National Grid need to supply extra capacity in the winter months when demand for energy was high. It did this by slowly filling up the tanks in the summer months, when gas was less expensive, cooling it to -161 Degrees Celsius to liquefy it and reduce its size by six hundred times, then finally storing it until it was needed for use [2].
From 1977 unitl March 2011 it was an operational site, but as gas prices climbed and the gas market changed due to increased competition there was less of a need for such a site. The National Grid also discovered that the gas quality at Partington was declining faster than originally forecast [3]. In March this year the site began its decommissioning and demolition program and by the end of 2012, it will be completely demolished. This process of decommissioning will continue as the four other sites similar to Partington located in Scotland, Wales, and England will slowly be taken off the grid and relocated to the Isle of Grain LNG site in Kent. When I was kindly led around the site by a soon to be retired employee, Harry, I had empathy for him as he had worked there for many years and had an attachment to it like one would an old house. He remarked that “We served the site and it in return served us”, which made me realise that not everyone had a negative opinion of such sites and that some, more than others, depended on it. [1] Extracted from the Review of the National Grid LNG Storage Business Report (2006) by TPA Solutions Ltd [2] For more information about liquid natural gas please visit www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Gas/ lngstorage/What/ [3] News Release for Partington LNG Decommission (2012) by National Grid
LNG Importation
Supports 20% of UK’s energy demand
The LNG Facility based on the Isle of Grain in Kent started out its life in 1982 as a similar facility to Partington. Their differences began when it became more commercially viable and profitable to ship the gas in its liquefied state rather than putting it through the liquefaction process. Grain was the first UK facility to import LNG by tankers which moor at a purpose built Jetty connected by a pipe line 4km away from the site. The site has gone through many changes and redevelopment with the first set of tanks in 2002, Phase 1, being converted to directly store liquefied gas in from the main pipeline, rather than through the liquefaction process [1]. By 2005 the first ship arrived at the Jetty called the “Berge Arzew” and so began importation in the UK [2]. The site at this time supported 4% of the UK’s demand. After the success of this conversion the site began Phase 2; construction of three larger tanks with the capacity to store four times the previous capacity. With this development the site was now supporting 12% of the UK’s Gas demands. Another development followed in 2010 giving the site the capability of providing 20% of the UK’s forecasted demands. The new tanks hold a massive 956,000m³ of LNG, the
world’s largest above ground tanks, larger than the Royal Albert Hall [3]. With all of these developments the site is now the largest of its kind in Europe and the Americas and the 8th largest in the world. A £1 billion investment and 20-year customer contracts have ensured that the site will continue to meet the UK’s demand and there is still more space for expansion in the future. This is going to be needed as the UK’s demand for gas is expected to rise by 15% over the next ten years and with the gas sources diminishing in the North Sea, importation at Grain will be used to fill the gap. While visiting the Isle of Grain site I was surprised to see how industrial and desolate the landscape surrounding it was and felt , paradoxically, that it was an ideal location to develop, as its impact would not be so invasive. [1] Extracted from National Grid Factsheets: Grain LNG (2010) by National Grid [2] Taken from www.icis.com/heren/ articles/2006/01/30/9285099/berge-arzew-unloadsagain-at-uk-grain-lng.html [3] For further information regarding Grain’s storage capacity read Grain Brochure (2009) by the National Grid.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my three tutors, Anthony Lam, Andy Moxon and Kim Furrokh as without their help and guidance this undertaking would not have been possible. I also would like to thank Russell Winters as without his interest in my work I would never of gained the access required to complete it. Lastly I would like to thank my family and partner for their patience, support and encouragement throughout this year.
Published to accompany the exhibition of ‘Delicate Dependency’ by John Downes at the University of Gloucestershire, Hardwick Campus, Cheltenham, GL50 4BS. 25th - 31st May 2012. All Images and Text Copyright © John Downes Tel: 07989 174349 Email: info@john-downes.com www.john-downes.com
www.john-downes.com