Torness power station maintenance boosts local business
A programme of work is underway at Torness power station bringing a boost to the East Lothian economy.
One of the station’s two units (Unit 1) has been taken offline for a major maintenance programme called a statutory outage. This planned 10 week outage is like an MOT for the unit, allowing work to be carried out that cannot take place while the reactor is at power.
At its peak, around 800 additional workers will join the 750 strong site team to deliver this outage, supporting local business as they stay in the area’s hotels, B&Bs and caravan parks and eat in restaurants.
During the outage workers will carry out more than 12,500 separate pieces of work – each carefully planned during the last two years of preparation. Some of the largest jobs include turbine rotor exchange, gas circulator exchanges and inspections, graphite core inspections and generator load switch replacement.
Station Director, Paul Forrest, said: “This £40m maintenance programme supports our ambition to make sure Torness remains a top performing station that can continue to support the UK’s net zero goals.
“This will be the 25th statutory outage we have carried out at the station. We are very well practised at them and over the years, we have built great relationships with the extra workers who come and support us during the outages. These workers will be staying in local hotels and B&Bs, eating in the area’s restaurants and using taxi firms. It is great that our investment in the power station can also benefit our local community.”
EDF carries out a statutory outage on each of its reactors every three years. These are planned in advance with the National Grid to ensure that there is no impact on the national electricity supply. The other reactor at Torness is due to continue operating normally throughout the period.
Over its lifetime Torness has generated enough zero carbon electricity to power every home in Scotland for 29 years and the amount of carbon avoided, compared to gas generation, is the equivalent of taking every car off Scotland’s roads for 20 years.
For further information contact: fiona.mccall@edf-energy.com.
About EDF
EDF is helping Britain achieve Net Zero by leading the transition to a cleaner, low emission, electric future and tackling climate change. It is the UK’s largest producer of low-carbon electricity(1) and supplies millions of customers with electricity and gas.
It generates low carbon electricity from five nuclear power stations and more than thirty onshore wind farms and two offshore wind farms.
EDF is leading the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C, and there are advanced plans for a replica at Sizewell C in Suffolk. Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C will provide low carbon electricity to meet 14% of UK demand and power around 12 million homes.
EDF is one of the UK’s largest investors in renewables, with more than 1.5GW of renewable generation in operation and almost 14GW in planning and development across a range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and battery storage. We are constructing our largest offshore wind farm in Britain – the 450 MW Neart na Gaoithe project in Scotland.
EDF is helping its customers, both in business and at home, take their first steps to sustainably powering their lives. Whether it is buying an electric car, generating and storing electricity, selling energy back to the grid or installing a heat pump. EDF is one of the largest suppliers to British business and a leading supplier of innovative energy solutions that are helping businesses become more energy independent. In addition, the company’s energy services business, Dalkia, is one of the largest technical service providers in the UK and Ireland.
EDF is part of EDF Group, the world’s biggest electricity generator. In the UK, the company employs around 14,000 people at locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
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