Maintenance plan for power station’s big brown chimney
THE iconic brown chimney at the power station – which is believed to be the island’s tallest structure – will soon undergo essential maintenance.
It is part of nearly a year’s worth of work on C station at Guernsey Electricity’s North Side plant.
C station, which also includes four engines, requires hundreds of thousands of pounds-worth of investment.
Contractors should be on site around late summer for a 45-week programme of work. It will be carried out in phases to allow C station to continue to operate if needed.
‘We’ll expect to see scaffold structures going up. We’ll expect to see steeplejacks. Cladding will be removed. Steelwork welding repairs will be taking place,’ said Jon Sexton, who runs the power station.
‘It’s a big structure. Accessing it to maintain it is tricky and expensive. We have it surveyed routinely and from that we know what maintenance work we have to do so we can continue to use it.
‘If you don’t do this type of maintenance, you’re going to end up with structures becoming unsafe, and we can’t have that.’
C station was opened in the late 1970s. It is used mainly for back up to the more modern D station and the cable link to France.
Environment & Infrastructure is due to publish a new draft electricity strategy in the next few weeks. It will invite the States to agree a plan for future supply. Whatever is decided, C station is expected to be required for the foreseeable future.
‘Until we get a direction from the electricity strategy, we’ve got this interim period, and the work we’re doing on C station is part of repair and maintenance to make sure it continues to operate safely and reliably,’ said Mr Sexton.
The project starting this year will include maintenance at the top of the chimney stack, but the bulk of the work will take place lower down.
The chimney stack is 57m tall and its distinctive dark brown colour, which makes it stand out over the skyline in the north of the island, also helps to protect it.
‘The core stack is made of steel called corten, which is the reason it looks rusty. Corten steel is designed so that once it has created its outer rust surface it protects itself.’
The chimney was originally one of a pair, but its twin, which was part of B station, was taken down when it became obsolete several years ago.
C station is operated throughout the winter, when peak demand exceeds supply from the cable link, but it is usually not required in the summer.
