Grove Road Power Station
{{Short description|Electricity generating station}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox power station
| name = Grove Road Power Station
| image =
| image_caption =
| coordinates = {{Coord|51|31|39|N|00|10|15|W|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| country = England, United Kingdom
| location = Lisson Grove, London
| status = Decommissioned and demolished
| construction_began = 1900
| commissioned = November 1902
| decommissioned = 1969
| cost =
| owner = Central Electric Supply Company
(1902–1925)
London Power Company
(1925–1948)
British Electricity Authority
(1948–1955)
Central Electricity Authority
(1955–1957)
Central Electricity Generating Board
(1958–1973)
| operator = As owner
| employees =
| th_fuel_primary = Coal (until 1964), oil (from 1964)
| ps_site_area = 3 hectare
| ps_chimneys = 1
| ps_cooling_towers = 14 (wooden)
| ps_cooling_source = Recirculating water cooling towers
| ps_units_operational = 3 × 18.75 MW and 2 × 12 MW
| ps_units_manu_model = British Thomson-Houston 6.6 kV
| ps_units_decommissioned = All
| ps_electrical_capacity = 80.25 MW
| ps_electrical_cap_fac =
| ps_annual_generation = See text
}}
Grove Road power station was an 80.25 MW electricity generating station that operated from 1902 until it was closed in 1969. It was an early example of the co-operation between London electricity companies to centralise electricity generation in a shared, relatively large-scale, and therefore more efficient, power station. The site is now occupied by two major high-voltage electricity sub-stations.
History
The {{visible anchor|Central Electric Supply Company}} was founded in June 1897.{{Cite web|url=http://www.metadyne.co.uk/Power.html|title=A Potted History of Electricity Supply in London|date=16 September 2016|website=Metadyne website|access-date=29 January 2020}} It was promoted by two existing statutory electricity undertakings: the Westminster Electric Supply Corporation and the St. James' and Pall Mall Electric Lighting Company.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Central_Electric_Supply_Co|title=Central Electric Supply Co.|date=28 September 2016|website=Graces Guide to British Industrial History|access-date=29 January 2020}} The St. James’ Company had commenced electricity generation and supply to its area of north Westminster in April 1889{{Cite book|title=London Statistics 1904-5 Volume xv|last=London County Council|publisher=London County Council|year=1905|location=London|pages=434–5}} and the Westminster Corporation to north and south Westminster in November 1890. Electricity was generated in several small-scale power stations within the companies area of supply, but they wished to produce electricity in bulk. The companies were the main shareholders of the Central Company which obtained legislative powers in 1899 to supply electricity to the two founding companies.
Description
The Central Electric Supply Company established a 22 MW coal-fired power station on a 7.5 acre (3.0 hectare){{Cite web|url=http://www.metadyne.co.uk/pdf_files/electricity.pdf|title=London Area Power Supply|last=Horne|first=M.A.C.|date=2012|website=Metadyne|access-date=29 January 2020}} site off Grove Road (now Lisson Grove). The site is immediately to the north of the Regent’s Canal and south-east of Lord’s Cricket Ground. The architects of the buildings were Charles Stanley Peach and Sir Charles Herbert Reilly.{{Cite web|url=https://www.architecture.com/image-library/RIBApix/gallery-product/poster/grove-road-power-station-lodge-road-st-johns-wood-london-for-the-central-electricity-supply-company/posterid/RIBA5796.html?tab=print|title=Grove Road Power Station|website=RIBA|access-date=29 January 2020}} The boiler house and turbine hall were orientated north-west to south-east, and there was a single, square, ornate brick chimney. Although named Grove Road the main frontage of the power station was on the south side of Lodge Road (formerly Lodge Place).{{Cite book|title=Old Ordnance Survey Maps, St John's Wood 1913|date=31 March 1996 |publisher=Alan Godfrey Maps|isbn=0850547962|location=Newcastle upon Tyne}}
Coal for the power station was delivered to a dedicated siding off the adjacent Great Central Railway. There was a large coal store to the south-west of the power station. The station was notable for the field of 14 wooden cooling towers to the south-west of the site.{{Cite web|url=https://hydeparknow.uk/2015/12/09/london-unique-power-stations/|title=Central London's unique power stations|website=Hyde Park Now|access-date=29 January 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/100-years-of-aerofilms/|title=Pioneers and Photos: 100 years of Aerofilms 1919-2019|last=EPW009093 Aerial view Marylebone station area 1923|date=1923|website=Historic England|access-date=29 January 2020}}
Operation
Electricity supplies from Grove Road power station began in November 1902. In the first year of operations (1903) the Central Company sold 2.60 MWh of electricity.
From 1912 the Central Company also supplied current in bulk to the Chelsea Electricity Supply Company. The electricity generating capacity of the companies, and how this changed over time is demonstrated in the following table.{{Cite book|title=London Statistics 1925-25 Volume 30|last=London County Council|publisher=London County Council|year=1926|location=London|pages=290, 299, 302–3}}{{Cite book|title=London Statistics 1932-33 Volume 37|last=London County Council|publisher=London County Council|year=1934|location=London|pages=331, 333, 339, 348–9}} There was, as intended, a decline in local electricity generation and a move towards central production.
class="wikitable"
|+Electricity company generating capacity | ! colspan="4" |Electricity generating capacity, MW |
!St. James
!Westminster !Chelsea !Central |
1898
|2.82 |4.53 |1.86 |— |
---|
1903
|5.50 |10.65 |(3.30) |7.02 |
1904
| | | |8.58 |
1913
|10.2 |17.81 |3.50 |14.68 |
1920
|3.22 |9.82 |3.4 |20.20 |
1923
|0 |8.10 |0.60 |50.00 |
1933
|0 |0 |0 |Part of LPC |
In 1903 the station had installed 10 climax boilers of the vertical design powering Willans & Robinson engines. These drove generating plant comprising three each of General Electric Co 1,560kW and 780kW sets all generating at 6,000 volts, 46 cycles per second. The plant was supplemented later in 1904 by the addition of a Bellis & Morcom engine powering an AEG 1,560kW alternator.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_electrical-review_1904-05-06_54_1380/page/750/mode/2up?view=theater |title=The Electrical Review 1904-05-06: Vol 54 Iss 1380 |date=1904-05-06 |publisher=St. John Patrick Publishers |others=Internet Archive |language=English}}
In 1912 further equipment was installed in Grove Road to increase the generating capacity to 40 MW.
In 1923 the Central Electric Company’s generating plant at Grove Road comprised 1 × 3.0 MW, 2 × 6.0 MW and 2 × 10.0 MW turbo generators. The maximum load on the system was 25.050 MW. The total steam output capacity of the boilers was 557,400 lb/hr (70.2 kg/s). The company generated 51,102 MWh during 1923.{{Cite book|last=Electricity Commission|title=Electricity Supply - 1920-1923|publisher=HMSO|year=1925|location=London}}
In 1923 the St. James Company provided a 110 & 220 V DC supply, and a single phase 105 V 85 Hz AC supply, the maximum load was 8,871 kW. It generated just 21.785 MWh in 1923, and sold a total of 15,826 MWh raising a revenue of £279,137.
In 1923 the Westminster Company provided a 400/440 V DC only supply. The generating plant comprised 2 × 300 kW, 3 × 1000 kW, 1 × 1500 kW and 1 × 3000 kW turbo generators, the maximum load was 18,702 kW. It generated 11,906 MWh in 1923, and sold a total of 30,261 MWh raising £458,682 in revenue.
In 1929 the plant contained eight 3 phase, 50Hz , 6600 Volt British Thompson-Houston turbo alternators 4 x 18,750 kW, 2 x 12,000 kW, 2 x 7,000 kW which were supplied with steam from no less than 21 boilers with a total evaporative capacity of 1,130,000 Ib/hr.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_engineer_1929-03-01_147_3816/page/228/mode/2up?view=theater |title=The Engineer 1929-03-01: Vol 147 Iss 3816 |date=1929-03-01 |others=Internet Archive |language=English}}
In 1923 the Chelsea Company provided a 200 & 400 V DC only supply. The generating plant comprised 2 × 80 kW, 4 × 150 kW, 6 × 200 kW and 2 × 420 reciprocating generators and 3 × 200 kW oil driven machines. In 1923 it generated 3,060 MWh, and sold 5,268 MWh raising a revenue of £122,240.
Bulk electricity supplies from Grove Road were transmitted at 6.6 kV, 3-phase, 50 Hz. Local supplies were of Direct Current (DC) at 200–400 V. In 1915 the Central Company supplied up to 10.7 MW to the Westminster company via Motor-generator sets, and 2.2 MW to St. James. In the mid-1920s the bulk supply voltage was increased to 22 kV. The generating and transforming capacity for undertakings acquiring bulk supplies; and the amount of electricity generated and imported (from Grove Road) in 1923 were:
class="wikitable"
|+Electricity company capacity, generation and import | !St. James !Westminster !Chelsea !Central (Grove Road) |
Generating capacity, MW
|0 |8.10 |0.60 |50.00 |
---|
Transforming capacity, MW
|13.49 |23.70 |4.50 |̶ |
Electricity generated, MWh
|0 |13.24 |1.04 |59.71 |
Electricity imported, MWh
|23.12 |31.25 |5.67 |̶ |
Under the London Electricity (No. 2) Act 1925 (14 & 15 Geo. 5. c. lxiii) the St. James, Westminster, Chelsea, Central Company, and others, became part of the London Power Company (LPC). The companies continued to reduce the generation of electricity from small local power stations and purchased electricity supplies from the LPC. In 1925 the London Power Company embarked on a plan to modernise Grove Road power station. The peak generating capacity of Grove Road was increased to 80.25 MW; this is in the context of the LPC’s major generating stations: Battersea rated at 343 MW (in 1935) and 503 MW (1955) and Deptford at 448 MW.
It was reported in 1930 that experimental work had been carried out at Grove Road power station into eliminating sulphur oxides from the flue gases. Under working condition removal of 95 per cent of sulphur oxides was claimed. This work was in the context of the ongoing construction of Battersea power station which required flue-gas treatment facilities to be provided.{{Cite news|title=Battersea power station, p.11|date=13 November 1930|work=The Times}}
The Central Electric Supply Company was legally dissolved in October 1932 as its functions to supply electricity had been subsumed by the LPC.{{Cite book|title=London Statistics 1936-37 Volume 41|last=London County Council|publisher=London County Council|year=1939|location=London|pages=374, 386}}
Upon nationalisation of the British electricity industry in 1948 ownership of Grove Road station was transferred to the British Electricity Authority (1948–55), then to the Central Electricity Authority (1955–57), and finally to the Central Electricity Generating Board (1958–69).
The generating capacity of Grove Road power station in 1964 was still 80.25 MW.CEGB Statistical Yearbook (1965-68), CEGB, London. There were 3 × 18.75 MW and 2 × 12 MW British Thomson-Houston turbo-alternators. The chain-grate boilers had a steam capacity of 895,000 lb/hr (112.8 kg/s). The steam pressure at the turbine stop valves was 210 psi (14.45 bar) 357/371 °C. In 1954 the station burned 81,400 tons of coal. In 1964–65 the boilers were modified for oil firing to take advantage of relatively cheap oil in this period. By 1968 some electricity plant had been retired and the generating capability of the power station had been reduced to 37.5 MW; the thermal efficiency was 12.59 percent (in 1961){{Cite journal|title=British Power Stations Operating at 31 December 1961|journal=Electrical Review|volume=1 June 1962|pages=91}} and 9.18 per cent (in 1968). The electricity output of Grove Road power station in its final years was as follows.{{Cite journal|date=24 June 1955|title=Schedule of power stations as at 31 December 1954|journal=Electrical Review|volume=24 June 1955|pages=1123}}{{Cite book|editor-last=Garrett|editor-first=Frederick C. |title=Garcke's Manual of electricity supply (vol. 56)|publisher=Electrical Press|year=1959|location=London|pages=A-58, A-121}}GEGB Annual report and accounts, various yearsElectricity Commission, Generation of Electricity in Great Britain year ended 31st December 1946. London: HMSO, 1947.
Grove Road annual electricity output GWh.
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Decommissioning
The electricity generating plant at Grove Road power station was decommissioned in 1969. The power station buildings were demolished in 1973.
The Grove Road site is now the location of two major electricity sub-stations. It is at the southern end of the 400 kV Elstree to St John’s Wood transmission cable tunnel and is also a 132 kV sub-station, part of the London power distribution network.{{Cite web|url=https://library.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/library/en/RIIO/Asset_Management_Documents/Regional_Development_Plans/LPN/LPN_RDP_StJohns_Wood.pdf|title=St. John's Wood LPN Regional Development Plan|date=2014|website=UK power networks|access-date=29 January 2020}}
Other uses
In October 1960 the photographer Terence Donovan undertook a fashion shoot called ‘Thermodynamic’ for Man About Town Magazine at Grove Road Power Station.{{Cite web|url=https://www.artsy.net/artwork/terence-donovan-thermodynamic-fashion-shoot-for-man-about-town-magazine-grove-road-power-station-31st-october-1960|title=Terence Donovan: Swinging Sixties London|website=www.artsy.net|access-date=29 January 2020}}
In 1963 the CEGB was researching the possibility of using warmed cooling water from power stations to support fish-farming both for recreational use and for food. They introduced carp (Cyprinus carpio), grass carp, silver carp and Tilapia into the cooling water ponds at Grove Road power station. The fish grew quickly in the warm water (up to 27 °C).{{Cite journal|last=Iles|first=R.B.|date=31 January 1963|title=Cultivating fish for food and sport in power-station water|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TF7wQYDRIXAC&q=grove+road+fishing+power+station&pg=PA228|journal=New Scientist|volume=324|pages=227–29}}