Coal-fired power station cooling towers, seen near houses. Coal is burnt in the power station to heat water and produce steam to drive electricity- generating turbines. The hot steam is condensed by cooling water. The heated cooling water is sprayed into the cooling towers, some escaping as the steam seen here. This is Fiddler's Ferry Power Station, near Warrington, Cheshire, England. It was built from 1971-1973. There are eight cooling towers, each 114 metres high and with a cooling capacity of 8400 litres of water per second. As of 2004, this power station's generating capacity was 2000 megawatts (MW).