Description
This programme, filmed at the CEGB power station at Didcot, examines the way in which electricity is generated in the U.K. and the possibility of implementing a combined heat and power scheme in th...e U.K. from a station of this type.
Metadata describing this Open University video programme
Module code and title: T101, Living with technology: a foundation course
Item code: T101; 08; 1980
First transmission date: 18-05-1980
Published: 1980
Rights Statement:
Restrictions on use:
Duration: 00:24:00
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Producer: Aileen Llewellyn
Contributors: Rosalind Armson; John Naughton
Publisher: BBC Open University
Keyword(s): Coal pulverising mills; Coal trains; Control room; Cooling towers; Didcot power station; Maximum theoretical efficiency; National Grid; Rotterdam; Steam cycle; Turbine hall
Footage description: John Nauqhton, in the studio, introduces the programme. Opening shots of Didcot power station, inside and out. A technician, in the control room, is seen responding to a request to supply more power to the national grid. More exterior shots of Didcot power station. Commentary by Rose Armson examines the vast scale of the installation. Shots of coal trains arriving and unloading. Rose Armson explains how the coal is processed and burned at the power station. Shots of the coal pulverising mills and of the turbine hall. She goes on, with the aid of animated diagrams, to explain the steam cycle through the turbines. Peter Todd, Didcot Station Test and Efficiency Engineer, discusses how the highly automated control system monitors the operation. He goes on to explain some of the criteria for achieving maximum performance from the Station. Shots of a computer VDU in the central control room. Rose Armson looks at the wasted energy output from the Didcot station. Shots of chimneys and cooling towers while she talks. Peter Todd joins in the discussion. Rose Armson and Peter Todd explain why it would not be practical for vast power stations like Didcot to be converted to central heat and power (CUP) stations. Ian Lowe compares the power station at Didcot with the Schiehaven CHP station in Rotterdam. Still shots of both stations. Lowe goes on to explain how maximum theoretical efficiency of a power station can be calculated. He works out from this that CHP stations are twice as efficient as electricity generation stations alone. Shots of Didcot station and Schiehaven as he talks. The formula for calculating efficiency is captioned.
Master spool number: OU3270
Production number: FOUT041B
Videofinder number: 2196
Available to public: yes