Cottam power station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station. The site extends over 620 acres (250 ha) of mainly arable land and is situated at the eastern edge of Nottinghamshire on the west bank of the River Trent at Cottam near Retford. The larger coal-fired station was decommissioned by EDF Energy in 2019 in line with the UK's goal to meet its zero-coal power generation by 2025. The smaller in-use station is Cottam Development Centre, a combined cycle gas turbine plant commissioned in 1999, with a generating capacity of 440 MW. This plant is owned by Uniper.
The power station, viewed from the north. July 2006.
Hinton Cup
The commencement of works at Mickleholme Farm in April 1964
Merry go round train detail
Megawatt Valley is a term applied to a geographic location which houses a large number of electricity generating stations. Historically in the United Kingdom this applied to the coal-fired power stations of the lower Trent Valley. In the mid-1980s, the valley's 13 facilities generated up to a quarter of the power demand for England and Wales. A shift to gas-fired power stations saw many of the Megawatt Valley facilities close down. The term was then associated with an area of Yorkshire centred on the River Aire that was home to Ferrybridge C, Eggborough and Drax power stations. Of these facilities only Drax remains in operation. In the United States the term has been applied to an area of West Virginia, home to five power stations.
Cottam and West Burton power stations in the Trent Valley
Power in Trust sculpture at Staythorpe Power Station
West Burton and Cottam Power Stations viewed from Ossington
Ferrybridge, Eggborough and Drax power stations visible on the horizon