INDIAN QUEENS POWER STATION

Indian Queens Power Station is an Open Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) Power Station located near St Dennis, Cornwall. 

The site was specifically designed as a peak load and synchronous compensator when it was commissioned back in 1998.

Indian Queens Power Station now predominantly provides a ‘Synchronous Compensation’ service utilising only its Generator, which is uncoupled from the Gas Turbine using a Synchro Self Shifting (SSS) clutch. No fuel is consumed, and no emissions are released from the site in delivering this service, which enables National Grid to efficiently control the UK transmission system voltage and frequency. 

Synchronous Compensation and the provision of system ‘inertia’ has become a very much required National Grid service due to the recent significant addition of renewable generation onto and the removal of large spinning masses (from both Coal & CCGT power stations) from the UKs National Transmission System. Synchronous compensation operation at Indian Queens Power Station has significantly increased over the past five years, with a site utilisation factor of over 90% in 2023. 

Utilising its very reliable and flexible General Electric Frame 9E Gas Turbine, coupled to the Generator, Indian Queens Power Station also has the capability to provide up to 140MW of electrical power during peak periods or when the UK electricity market is in distress. 

Active power services (i.e., generation of MWs) consist of a contribution in the UK’s Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR), where the station can be at full load within just 20 minutes of starting and participation in the UK Capacity Market, which provides National Grid with important additional services, helping to keep the lights on in the United Kingdom.