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Blackwall Point Power Station

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Coordinates: 51°29′52″N 0°00′41″E / 51.497800°N 0.011500°E / 51.497800; 0.011500
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Blackwall Point Power Station
Blackwall Point Power Station from Greenwich Park, 1973
Map
CountryEngland
LocationGreenwich, London
Coordinates51°29′52″N 0°00′41″E / 51.497800°N 0.011500°E / 51.497800; 0.011500
StatusDecommissioned and demolished
Construction began1900 & 1947
Commission date1900 & 1951
Decommission date1947 & 1984
OwnersBlackheath and Greenwich Electric Light Co. subsequently the South Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Co., then the County of London Electric Lighting Co.
British Electricity Authority
(1948–1955)
Central Electricity Authority
(1955–1957)
Central Electricity Generating Board
(1958–1984)
OperatorOperated by owner
Thermal power station
Primary fuelCoal
Site area3.5 acres
ChimneysOne
Cooling towersNone
Cooling sourceRiver water
Power generation
Units operational3 × 30 MW (1951 station)
Make and modelEnglish Electric Company
Units decommissionedAll
Nameplate capacity100.5 MW[1]
Annual net outputsee graph in text
External links
CommonsRelated media on Commons
[edit on Wikidata]

grid reference TQ3961079623

Blackwall Point Power Station was a coal-fired power station on the east side of the Greenwich Peninsula, in London. An early station from the 1890s was replaced in 1951 by a new station, which itself ceased operation in 1984. The station was constructed on a three-acre site at the north-west end of River Way to the south-east of the South Metropolitan Gasworks, since redeveloped as East Parkside.

History

[edit]

The first Blackwall Point power station was built on the site of the East Greenwich tide mill by the Blackheath and Greenwich Electric Light Co. and began to supply the area in 1900. By the time it closed in 1947 it had a capacity of 15 MW.[2]

Blackwall Point Power Station seen from the east, 1973

The replacement station was planned by the South Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Co. from 1947.[3] Following nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1948, planning and construction was taken over by the British Electricity Authority (BEA) which opened the station in 1952 on a small 3.5-acre site.[3] It was the first London power station designed to be fired exclusively by pulverised coal. Coal from overhead bunkers was ground to a powder by pressurised mills and transported to the furnace by air fans.[4] Coal was delivered to the station via a coaling pier on the river. The building was a steel framed structure with brick and glass cladding.[3] The box-like boiler house was to the north of the low engine room, the switch house was to the left. There was a single reinforced concrete chimney.[3]

The station was equipped with three nominal 30 MW turbo alternators generating at 11 kV and supplied by the English Electric Company, giving the station a generating capacity of 90 MW. Steam was supplied by three coal-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers, with condenser cooling water taken from the river.[5] The maximum steam capacity of the boilers was 1,095,000 lb/hr (138 kg/s). Steam pressure and temperature at the turbine stop valves was 600 psi (41.4 bar) and 454 °C.[6] In 1954 the station used 167,000 tons of coal.[7]

The first turbo-alternator set was commissioned in the summer of 1951, subsequent sets coming into use by the spring of 1952.

Blackwall Point was originally in the London Division of the BEA, which subsequently became the Central Electricity Authority (1955–57) and from 1958 the Central Electricity Generating Board.

Electricity output

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Electricity output from Blackwell Point power station over the period 1961–1981 was as follows.[6][8][9][7][10][11]

Blackwell Point annual electricity output GWh.

Decommissioning

[edit]

The station closed on 26 October 1981 with a capacity of 86 MW.[12] The power station was demolished and the site cleared in 1987.[3] Today the only visible remains of the station is the coaling pier in the Thames.

References

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  1. ^ Electrical Review,1 June 1962
  2. ^ Mary Mills, Greenwich Marsh - The 300 years before the Dome, London: M.Wright, 1999, ISBN 0-9535245-0-7
  3. ^ a b c d e Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (1995). The Power Stations of the Lower Thames. Swindon: National Monuments Record Centre.
  4. ^ Frederick Gair, Blackwall Point Power Station, Greenwich Industrial History Society Newsletter, Vol 7 Issue 1, January 2004 [1] Archived 12 May 2004 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Keith Doyle, Blackwall Point Power Station, Greenwich Industrial History Society Newsletter, Vol 2 Issue 4, August 1999, [2] Archived 26 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ a b CEGB Statistical Yearbooks (various years) CEGB, London.
  7. ^ a b "Schedule of power stations as at 31 December 1954". Electrical Review. 24 June 1955: 1123. 24 June 1955.
  8. ^ "British Power Stations operating at 31 December 1961". Electrical Review. 1 June 1962: 931.
  9. ^ Garcke’s Manual of Electricity Supply vol. 57, 1960, p. A-109.
  10. ^ GEGB Annual report and accounts, various years
  11. ^ Electricity Commission, Generation of Electricity in Great Britain year ended 31st December 1946. London: HMSO, 1947.
  12. ^ Mr. Redmond (16 January 1984). "Coal-fired Power Stations". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 1 September 2009.
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