Management of the power station is the responsibility of the Station Superintendent who, with his Deputy, controls and directs the entire operation through Departmental Heads each of whom is responsible for a particular management function. Between five and six hundred people are employed on the site.

0peration Department

For operational purposes, both 'A' and 'B' Stations are separately staffed, the department being under the direct control of the Operation Superintendent. Operating staff are all engaged on a continuous shiftwork pattern and comprises a team of engineers and highly trained Industrial staff.

The senior engineer on shift in each Station is the Shift Charge Engineer, who is responsible for the whole of the operation of the plant under his care, in all respects. Outside "office hours" the Charge Engineers are responsible for the whole of the activity on the station site, although the Senior members of the day staff are available for consultation by telephone if needed.

In the Main Control Room, which is a communication centre for the Power Stations and a control centre for the grid sub-stations and station auxiliary supplies, is a Station Shift Control Engineer, who is responsible jointly to the Charge Engineers in 'A' and 'B' Power Stations.

The Coal and Ash Handling Department is part of the Operation Department and the Coal and Ash Engineer is also responsible directly to the Operation Superintendent for the provision of a continuous supply of coal in the bunkers and the removal from site of the ash left behind after combustion of the coal.

Coal consumption at Willington is of the order of 55,000 to 60,000 tons per week and it will be seen that the programming of this coal handling and subsequent ash handling and disposal on the Station is no easy matter. A stock of coal is maintained and, in summer conditions, this reaches a maximum of 250,000 tons.

Station efficiency results and operating statistics are monitored by the Efficiency section, and plant efficiencies are calculated on a weekly basis, as this period is considered the shortest that can be used for efficiency standards without running into excessive difficulties in assessing fuel quantities used with sufficient accuracy. The Efficiency Section also deals with the preparation of statistical returns relating to the Plant Thermal Performance Factors and the handling and processing of all records associated with these returns.

Maintenance Department