Generating unit at Grain power station back in service following stack rebuild

In February 2022, one of the three CCGT unit stacks at Grain power station collapsed as a result of record breaking wind speeds brought by Storm Eunice, which also caused damage to its heat recovery steam generator (HRSG).

During the incident, the site was evacuated as a precaution and fortunately, there were no casualties, and no risk to the local community. 

Work to rebuild the stack and the HSRG has been successfully completed.  The generating unit is now back online, providing power to the national grid, alongside Grain’s other two units, which have continued to operate as normal during the repair work.

We would like to thank all of our colleagues and contractors, for their hard work to safely rebuild the stack and bring the unit back into service. 

You can find our latest plant availability, including for Grain at  https://remit-uniper.energy/

About Grain power station 

• Located on the Isle of Grain in Kent, it is the newest Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) plant in Uniper’s UK portfolio, having become operational in 2011. 

• It comprises of three gas fired units each with their own stack, which are capable of producing more than 1,326MWs - enough electricity to power around one million homes.

About Uniper

Düsseldorf-based Uniper is an international energy company with activities in more than 40 countries. The company and its roughly 7,000 employees make an important contribution to supply security in Europe, particularly in its core markets of Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Uniper’s operations encompass power generation in Europe, global energy trading, and a broad gas portfolio. Uniper procures gas—including liquefied natural gas (LNG)—and other energy sources on global markets. The company owns and operates gas storage facilities with a total capacity of more than 7 billion cubic meters.

Uniper intends to be completely carbon-neutral by 2040. Uniper aims for its installed power generating capacity to be more than 80% zero-carbon by 2030. To achieve this, the company is transforming its power plants and facilities and investing in flexible, dispatchable power generating units. Uniper is already one of Europe’s largest operators of hydropower plants and is helping further expand solar and wind power, which are essential for a more sustainable and secure future. The company is progressively expanding its gas portfolio to include green gases like hydrogen and biomethane and aims to convert to these gases over the long term.

Uniper is a reliable partner for communities, municipal utilities, and industrial enterprises for planning and implementing innovative, lower-carbon solutions on their decarbonization journey. Uniper is a hydrogen pioneer, is active worldwide along the entire hydrogen value chain, and is conducting projects to make hydrogen a mainstay of the energy supply.

About Uniper UK

In the UK, Uniper owns and operates a flexible generation portfolio of seven power stations, a fast-cycle gas storage facility and two high pressure gas pipelines, from Theddlethorpe to Killingholme and from Blyborough to Cottam. We also have significant long-term regasification capacity at the Grain LNG terminal in Kent, to convert LNG back to natural gas.