The larger coal-fired station was decommissioned by EDF Energy in 2019 in line with the UK's goal to meet its zero-coal power generation by 2025.

[3][4] The smaller in-use station is Cottam Development Centre, a combined cycle gas turbine plant commissioned in 1999, with a generating capacity of 440 MW.

[5] In January 2019, EDF Energy announced that the coal station was due to cease generation in September 2019 after more than 50 years of operation.

[citation needed] Work was begun in April 1964 on the site of Mickleholme Farm by the Central Electricity Generating Board Midlands Project Group from Bournville.

Extensive use was made of 'Cottam Amber' coloured cladding around the boiler and turbine house, 'emphasising its functional grandeur at the heart of the complex'.

In order to provide adequate protection against flooding, the area in which the main building is constructed was raised to 7.92m (26 ft) ordnance datum by filling from borrow pits on site, but the coal store and cooling tower area remain at the original level of 4.87m (16 ft) ordnance datum.

The 400kV switching station is to the south of the site from which feeders join the National Grid system by way of other substations in the area.

To the west are the station workshops and administration block of offices, which were connected to the turbine house by an enclosed overhead walkway.

The cladding of the main building was painted in "Cottam Amber" colour, designed to blend with the brickwork of houses and farms in the vicinity.

[10] A 15m high tree-clad ridge was constructed to designs by Kenneth and Patricia Booth to shield Cottam village from the visual mass and noise of the station.

The superheater platens – which were situated directly above the combustion chamber – differ from other heaters in that the heat would be imparted to the steam by radiation as well as convection.

A special feature of the Cottam machines was the radial condenser in which the tube nests were disposed right round the turbine L.P. shafts in a common casing.

It consisted of a single cylinder eleven stage turbine turning at 5,000 rev/min and drove a multi-stage pump to give a delivery pressure of 2,940 lbf/in2.

system consisted of a twin culvert fed by four vertical spindle pumps feeding the condensers arranged in two parallel groups, and discharged to eight cooling towers.

This arrangement would cause a continual circular, vortex free flow of water within the moat and allowed any combination of the four pumps to be operated as the station demanded.

[14] To prevent formation of slime and bacterial growth, automatic intermittent dosing was provided at each condenser inlet.

"De-icing" equipment was installed on the periphery of each tower, together with "eliminators" which reduced the system loss caused by carry over of water droplets.

Special 24.89 (24.5) and 32.51 tonne (32 ton) capacity wagons were developed with bottom hopper doors to suit the unloading equipment at this and other stations.

The on-site rail sidings formed a continuous loop and wagons were unloaded while the train was moving at 0.8 km/h (0.5 mph) by means of automatic lineside equipment.

'Stocking out' was accomplished by a single radial boom conveyor feeding a working stock area of 40,642 tonnes (40,000 tons) capacity.

Reclaiming from both permanent and working stock was by mobile plant which moved the coal into an underground hopper and hence to bunkers by means of duplicate conveyor belts, each of 1,524 tonnes (1,500 tons) per hour capacity.

All operations on the coal plant, including signalling for the locomotive while on site, were controlled from a central room which was situated adjacent to the unloading hopper.

[14] The last coal train delivery to Cottam power station was carried out by GB Railfreight number 66735 on 19 June 2019.

[20][21] On full load operation of the four units, in the order of 975 tonnes (960 tons) per day of furnace bottom ash would be made.

The de-watered ash would then be discharged to the drainage area from which loading on to road vehicles was carried out by mechanical shovel.

The sump was emptied by single stage pumps discharging to the dust lagoons on site or in the vicinity of the station.

The concept of the control is that all operations would be divided into discrete stages, each fully automatic and self-checking, with fault alarms and light indications to show the state of the plant.

The object of the automatic 'fixed logic' sequence control was to give consistent starting techniques which met the matching requirements of both the boiler and turbine, and allowed the unit to be loaded in as short a time as possible.

During construction, heavy components weighing up to 400 tonnes were brought onto site using inland waterways, to avoid damaging local roads.

[26] On 7 January 2019, EDF Energy confirmed that the coal-fired power station would close on 30 September 2019 due to "challenging market conditions."