Rye House Power Station, near Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, is a 715 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility owned and operated by VPI, part of the Vitol Group. The site has a long industrial history, originally housing a 128 MW coal plant built in 1951 and an open-cycle gas turbine added in 1965. Both were decommissioned in 1982, paving the way for the current gas-fired plant. Commissioned in 1993 and officially opened in 1994, it provides enough electricity to power nearly one million people — roughly the population of Hertfordshire.

Constructed by Siemens AG, the plant uses three Siemens V94.2 gas turbines, each producing around 150 MW. The turbines exhaust hot gases at 540°C into Babcock Energy heat recovery steam generators, which drive a 250 MW Siemens steam turbine, bringing total capacity to 715 MW. Power is exported to the National Grid via a 400 kV connection.

Rye House features Europe’s largest air-cooled condenser and employs a workforce of just thirty-seven, reflecting the high efficiency and automation of modern CCGT design. Its location near Rye House railway station and eighteen miles north of London makes it one of the key flexible generation assets serving the capital region.