Willington `A’ started generating in 1957 and was fully commissioned by 1959. It had a unique design and consisted of four ICL non- reheat corner fired boilers set in a square with two rows of Lopulco coal mills running through the middle. There was a Turbine Hall either side each containing two English Electric 104 MW three cylinder turbines. These turbines had adjustable thrust bearings which required a lot of attention to avoid disaster.
The reason for the unusual layout of Willington `A’ was to allow access to lift the heavy alternator stators into positio
n using a special lifting rig. This avoided the extra capital cost of installing a permanent crane that was capable of lifting the heavy stator and only likely to be used once for this purpose.
Another unusual feature of Willington `A’ was the partially enclosed boilers. The lower part of the boiler house extended to the top of the burners and enclosed the deaerators. The top of each boiler had separate enclosures covering everything on that level. This meant that working on sootblowers could be very pleasant in summer but extremely cold and hazardous in the depths of winter.
The cooling water was a once through system taking water from the river bar screens opposite, through the drum screens and returning it further down stream. Two of the five cooling towers belonged to `A’ station but were only used during periods of high river temperature.
In 1993 Units 3 & 4 were shut down for the last time leaving just Unit 1 running for Grid security. Unit 2 was also kept available as back up in case Unit 1 failed and on one occasion was dusted down and run to prove this was still possible. Unit 1 was finally shut down for the last time on 30th September 1994 with a ceremony that included many people who had been involved with the station, past and present.
