For many Rugeley people the Power Station is symbolic of the massive impression that the town has made on Industrial history throughout the years.
It is certainly hard to ignore the familiar landscape when looking through old photographs and would be hard to imagine Rugeley without these proud giants that dominate the skyline.

Rugeley B Power Station provides electricity for around one million people and provides employment for around 150 people today. Although presently owned by International Power the power station site began its life in 1956 when construction began on Rugeley A Power Station in a joint venture between the Central Electricity Generating Board and the National Coal Board.

Rugeley A Power Station, with its massive concave towers, was completed & opened in 1963, sharing its site with Lea Hall Colliery which provided coal directly to the station by conveyor belt. The cooling towers were the worlds first big dry cooling tower and were the first of their kind of a design aimed at eliminating water loss.

Rugeley B Station was commissioned in 1970 and was completed and opened in 1972. It comprises two 498 MW CA Parsons steam turbines and two Foster Wheeler / John Brown boilers in addition to two 25MW Rolls Royce Avon open cycle gas turbines. Following the closure of Lea Hall Colliery in 1990 coal stocks were delivered by rail to the stations and in 1995 Rugeley A Station was closed and subsequently demolished having burned 42 million tonnes of coal during its lifetime.

International Power took over the Rugeley B Station in the Summer of 2001 from TXU Europe, investing millions of pounds to update the power station including the addition of a state of the art control room and a learning centre for children to learn more about environmental issues as well as leisure facilities for workers.

To book a visit to the Power Stations environmental centre call 01889 5721000.