The Anonymous Widower

Backing Up The Wind With The Keadby Power Stations

I went to Cleethorpes from Doncaster by train yesterday. You pass the Keadby site, where there are two large gas–fired power stations of 734 MW and 710 MW. A third one ; Keadby 3 of 910 MW complete with carbon capture and storage should join them by 2027.

So that will be nearly 2.5 GW of reliable electricity.

I find it interesting that one of our first gas-fired power stations with carbon capture will be in Lincolnshire, which is famous for growing plants of all shapes, types and sizes. So will we be seeing lots of greenhouses on the flat lands I saw yesterday, growing plants in an atmosphere they like, so that we can generate our carbon dioxide and eat it.

The next power station at Keadby is called the Keadby Next Generation power station, which is intended to be complete by 2030. It is a bit of a puzzle in that it will run on up to 1800 MW of hydrogen and only produce up to 910 MW of electricity.

Note.

1. The hydrogen will come from SSE’s hydrogen store at Aldbrough and Centrica’s store at Rough.
2. Surely, the amount of hydrogen and electricity should balance.

When I worked in ICI’s hydrogen plant in the 1960s, ICI had no use for the hydrogen, so they sent it to their power station, blended it with coal gas and used it to make steam for other processes.

Could Keadby Next Generation power station be providing zero-carbon steam for the chemical and other processes on Humberside?

Adding the 910 MW of electricity to Keadby’s gas-fired total of 2.5 GW gives 3.4 GW of electricity from Keadby to back up the wind farms.

3.4 GW at Keadby is what I call backup!

It also should be noted, that one of the reasons for building the Mersey Tidal Barrage is to provide backup for all the wind farms in Liverpool Bay.

Conclusion

I believe that SSE could be supplying zero-carbon steam in addition to electricity from the Keadby Hydrogen power station.

March 26, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Energy Storage, Food, Hydrogen | Aldbrough Gas Storage, Carbon Capture And Storage, Centrica, Cleethorpes Station, Doncaster Station, Gas Storage, Gas-Fired Power Stations, Hydrogen-Fired Power Station, ICI, Keadby Hydrogen Power Station, Keadby Power Stations, Liverpool Bay, Mersey Tidal Power, Rough Gas Storage, SSE, Steam, Zero-Carbon Steam