Preserving North East engineering history
The steam turbine being moved
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A colossal steam turbine has made its penultimate journey from Drax Power Station near Selby, North Yorkshire where it has been generating electricity for Britain’s households for the past 36 years, to County Durham before being installed at Newcastle's Discovery Museum.
The engineering marvel has finished its working life at the power station and will be replaced with more efficient Siemens turbines as part of a £100 million steam turbine modernisation project.
The unique collaboration between Siemens Energy, Drax and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums to showcase the first steam turbine of this size to the public anywhere in the world has been years in the making.
Weighing in at 25 tonnes, the steam turbine is part of the UK’s historic first 660 megawatt (MW) steam turbine generating sets – the largest in the UK. Its return to Tyneside, where it was designed and made in 1967, marks the first stage of an exciting collaboration which will celebrate the achievements of Tyneside’s continuing engineering prowess at Newcastle’s Discovery Museum. Until space in the Museum is ready the turbine will be kept at the Regional Museums Store at Beamish. There it will be on view to visitors, in the company of other iconic examples of the North East’s rich scientific and industrial history.
As part of the multi-million pound contract with Drax, Siemens is helping to cut the station’s CO2 emissions by five per cent – or one million tonnes a year - the equivalent of taking more than a quarter of a million cars off the road. Replacing the station’s high and low pressure turbines will take its overall efficiency close to 40 per cent and represents the largest steam turbine modernisation project in UK history.
Carl Ennis, Managing Director of Siemens Energy Service Fossil in Newcastle comments: “The refurbishment of the Drax machines illustrates the continuing role of world-leading engineering expertise on Tyneside in meeting the demands for ‘greener’ energy. The latest partnership with Drax and Discovery Museum will give the public a unique insight into how these local engineers continue to meet modern challenges in the power generation industry and how science and technology continues to impact our lives.”
Dating back to 1967, the 660 MW Parsons turbines are the most powerful high speed (3000 revs/min) turbine-generators which Parsons designed and built in the UK before Siemens acquired the business in 1997. Drax was the first power station to commission 660 MW sets in the UK.
Siemens Chief Turbine Engineer, Geoff Horseman worked alongside the original turbine designers from the 1960s and manages the company’s history archive. He comments that: “The turbine upgrade programme at Drax presented Siemens with a rare opportunity as none of the Parsons 660 MW turbines have been upgraded to this extent before. We couldn’t think of a better final resting place than the Discovery Museum to showcase the amazing engineering heritage that we have in the North East.”
John Clayson, Keeper of Science and Industry for Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums comments: “Discovery Museum is delighted to be working in partnership with Drax and Siemens on this project. Day in and day out for more than 35 years the huge Newcastle-designed and built turbine generators at Drax have provided the power that keeps our homes, offices and streets lit, and our factories in production. Members of the public generally don’t have the chance to see what a large turbine looks like and appreciate the enormous advances in size, power and efficiency that have taken place in the last 100 years. The Drax turbines are visually impressive, and this project will provide an excellent showcase of large power generation turbine technology alongside the pioneering marine steam turbine powered vessel Turbinia.”
Siemens is working closely with Drax to dismantle, transport, create display rigs, install the turbine parts and provide labour and engineering advice throughout the project. The original design and manufacturing records for the units have also been preserved and Siemens’ engineering employees will design the drive shaft of a large bladed wheel.
The transportation of the turbines was a logistical challenge involving riggers and cranes for unloading and positioning after being dismantled and placed on to pallets.
Steve Austin, Turbine Engineer, Drax was set the challenge and says: “Despite being a complex and demanding task manoeuvring a 25 tonne piece of steel on to the back of a lorry, we are very proud to be able to contribute such an important and impressive piece of engineering to the Discovery Museum. The steam turbine modernisation project will not only save 1 million tonnes of CO2, it has given everyone the chance to view a piece of living history and we look forward to seeing the turbine on display.”
The turbine goes on show to the public at the Discovery Museum from mid-2010.