Perhaps an unusual subject for a postcard but nevertheless – greetings from Megawatt Valley! I recently collected a visitor who arrived by train at East Midlands Parkway. The station is adjacent to the Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station and provides a rare opportunity to be fairly close to the imposing cooling towers.

Such giant pepper pots are usually seen from a distance. They often make quite dramatic landmarks as they catch the sunlight in ever changing ways and create interesting shadows, not to mention the high stacks of billowing steam. Development of the Trent valley power stations began in the 1960s and by 1980s the valley’s 13 facilities generated up to a quarter of the power demand for England and Wales.

In recent years there has been a move to gas-fired power stations and now this one at Ratcliffe on Soar is the only one of the original megawatt valley ones still in use as a coal-fired power station. It has the capacity to produce enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately 2 million people. The term megawatt valley has now moved north to an area of Yorkshire around the river Aire.

Quirky fact 1 – the power station has an array of solar panels to help heat and light the admin block, saving an estimated 6.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Quirky fact 2 – it was claimed that the Trent was a few degrees warmer, particularly close to the power stations, due to heat transfer from the cooling towers.

This final photograph was taken from the station platform last year.