Ferrybridge: Power station demolition 'milestone' for UK energy industry
Around 100 homes near the demolition site were evacuated, as people gathered to watch four cooling towers destroyed.
Sunday 13 October 2019 15:50, UK
Demolition at Ferrybridge C Power Station in West Yorkshire has begun in what's been described as a "significant milestone" in UK energy.
People from around 100 homes near the demolition site were evacuated, as a crowd gathered to watch four cooling towers be destroyed.
Roads near the towers were closed during the controlled explosion - the Ferrybridge C Power Staton sits at the junction of the A1(M) and M62, just south of Ferrybridge village.
The demolition of the towers, which stood at 374ft (114m) high, took around 10 seconds.
The West Yorkshire power station provided the UK with energy for 50 years, before its owners, SSE, closed the plant in March 2016, believing it to have no longer been economical.
It's the second controlled explosion at the plant this year, with eight towers destroyed in July.
The final three towers are being kept in case a decision is made to convert the site into a new gas-fired power station.
Demolition work at the site is expected to be completed by summer 2021 and is part of SSE's move to reducing its carbon output.
The company plans to cut the carbon intensity of its electricity in half by 2030.
Opening in 1966, Ferrybridge C became the first power station in Europe to succeed in generating electricity from a 500-megawatt machine.
The station also made the record books in 1973 when one of its generators set a world record by running non-stop for over 5,400 hours and generating 2,999 gigawatt hours.