ELECTRICITY GENERATION & SUPPLY

Central London Electricity.

In 1889 A. & J. Gatti set up the Electricity Supply Corporation to supply the Adelaide Galleries and the district from Holborn to the Strand. The business evolved into becoming the Charing Cross & Strand Electricity Supply Company.

In 1938 the electricity suppliers Brompton & Kensington Electric Supply Company, Charing Cross Electricity Supply Company, Chelsea Electricity Supply Company, Kensington & Knightsbridge Electric Lighting Company, St James s & Pall Mall Electric Lighting Company, and Westminster Electric Supply Corporation merged to form Central London Electricity.

Crossness Sludge Powered Generator

Crossness Sludge Powered Generator burns the sludge that used to be dumped in the North Sea.

Location: Bazalgette Way, SE2 9AQ. To the south-east of Crossness Sewage Treatment Works.

See Also: SEWAGE

The Edison Company

In 1882 the Edison Company set up the world s first coal-fired power plant in Holborn Viaduct.

Thomas Edison s (1847-1931) direct current lost energy in transmission because in it electrons flowed in only one direction. Therefore, its power stations had to be located close to their clients.

His former employee, Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), devised the alternating current technology in which not as much was lost. This was because electrons alternated the way in which they flowed. As a result, it was possible to step up the voltage and transmit locate power stations further away from customers and thus operate from power stations that were cheaper to build. Tesla was backed by Westinghouse.

Edison mounted a campaign against Westinghouse. However, ultimately, A.C. won out.

Electric Lighting Station

Following a career in the Army, Rookes Crompton returned to civilian life and became involved in commercial engineering. In 1878 he installed dynamos in a relative s ironworks in order to improve its lighting. This marked the start of his association with electricity. Eight years later he set up the Kensington Electric Supply Company to supply electricity to businesses in Kensington. Crompton became a champion of direct current technology, while his friend Sebastian de Ferranti, who was associated with the rival London Electric Supply Company, espoused the cause of the alternating current system. De Ferranti was the figure whom posterity was to remember the better.

Location: 46 Kensington Court, W8 5DA (red, turquoise)

London Electric Supply Corporation

The artist Sir Coutts Lindsay founded the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877. The establishment aided first the Pre-Raphaelites artists and then the members of the Aesthetic Movement. In 1882 the 26^th Earl of Crawford¹ visited the Paris Exhibition of 1882 in an official capacity. There, he was impressed by the displays of electric lights. He suggested to Lindsay that the gallery should install electric lighting. In 1883 the baronet informed his neighbours that he was going to set up a generator in the basement of his building. This prompted a series of requests from them that he might supply them with electricity. The Grosvenor Gallery Power Station hired Sebastian de Ferranti to oversee the project. In 1887 the London Electric Supply Corporation was set up. Three years later Lindsay sold the Grosvenor Gallery building. By then the power generating business that had been founded there was supplying much of the West End.

The Corporation s Deptford power station (1891) was designed by de Ferranti. It was the world s first high-voltage electricity generating facility. At the time of its opening, it was also the largest power station in existence. De Ferranti s expertise with A.C. power meant that electricity could be transmitted into central London with only moderate wastage. The regulatory regime created by the Lighting Act of 1888 made burying cables underground impractical. Instead, they were run into the centre of the city alongside railway lines and then across the railway bridges that spanned the Thames.

In 1929 the London Power Company opened a second facility that was called Deptford West; the original one became known as Deptford East. In 1948 the business was nationalised. Its name was changed to the London Electricity Board. In 1957 Deptford East was closed down. In 1983 Deptford West was also shut down. In 1992 the buildings were demolished. Subsequently, housing was built upon the site.

Location: Grosvenor Gallery, 135-137 New Bond Street, W1Y 9FA (orange, grey)

Deptford Creek, SE10 9DD. On the western side of the mouth.

See Also: GALLERIES; RAILWAYS

¹. Whose surname was also Lindsay.

Former Power Stations

Commercial

Bankside

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott designed Bankside power station (1963). The structure was built from over four million brocks. With time facility was converted to burn oil. However, price rises in the fuel meant that during the 1970s it no longer economic sense to use the fuel for electricity generation. Therefore, in 1981 the facility was decommissioned. Nuclear Electric sold the site to the Tate Trustees in 1994. The building was redeveloped into the Tate Modern gallery, which opened six years later

Location: 25 Sumner Street, SE1 9JZ (blue, brown)

See Also: GALLERIES Tate Modern

Website: www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

Battersea Power Station

In 1927 it was proposed that a power station should be built upon the southern bank of the Thames. At the time, Parliament was encouraging larger power stations. Sir Giles Gilbert Scott oversaw the creation of Battersea Power Station, the U.K. s first super station on a 32-acre site. The work on its western half was carried out over the years 1929-35. In 1933 A station s Art Deco control room started operating. Over 1944-55 the second part of the facility was constructed. Three of the four chimneys were functional. The fourth was included for aesthetic reasons. In the 1950s Battersea was burning 10,000 tons of coal a week and drawing in 340m gallons of water from the Thames every day.

In 1964 a fire at Battersea caused the launch of B.B.C.2 television channel to be delayed by a day because there were concerns about power failures across London. The service started with a presenter blowing out a candle.

In 1975 A station s control room ceased operation. Five years later the Department of Environment conferred Grade II listing status upon the site. In 1983 Battersea Power Station ended its operation as a power station. Four years later Central Electricity Generating Board sold the facility to a property business that had ambitions to create an entertainment-centred mixed development on the land. For over two decades the site owned by a series owners, none of whom succeeded in building anything substantial there.

In 2012 a Malaysian consortium paid 400m for the Battersea site. It undertook to build a new tube station on a planned extension to the Northern Line.

The building is sometimes referred to as the upside-down elephant . From a distance it looks like a billiards table that has been tossed out of Valhalla during some Norse deity s fit of pique.

Location: 188 Kirtling Street, SW8 5BP

Website: https://batterseapowerstation.co.uk

Local Authority

Barking Power Station

Barking Power Station (1925) was built by the County of London Electric Supply Company in order to support electricity to Barking Urban District. In 1939 the B facility started operation. In 1948 the plant was acquired by the British Electricity Authority.

Location: River Road, Creekmouth, 1G11 0DR

See Also: LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Post Office

The Oxo Tower

The Oxo Tower building was constructed for the Post Office as a power station during the Edwardian era.

Subsequently, the Art Deco-style Oxo Tower (1930) was added to the structure as a means of circumventing the advertising restrictions of the London County Council that were in force at the time.)¹

Location: Bargehouse Street, SE1 9PH

Website: www.oxotower.co.uk

¹. By the start of the 19^thC it was apparent that the vast pampas of The Argentine were suitable for the mass rearing of cattle. However, prior to the existence long-distance refrigeration, the meat was allowed to rot. Economic value was derived from processing non-meat portions of the animals into products such as leather and tallow. In order that the flesh should be able to used, Justus Liebig, a German chemist, devised a technique for processing it into the form of an extract. In Britain, the product became known as Oxo.

Shoreditch Electricity Generating Station

Shoreditch Electricity Generating Station generated steam by burning rubbish. Above its principal entrance is written E Pulvere Lux et Vis . This can be translated as Light and Power From Dust .

The Shoreditch Electricity Generating Station generated steam by burning rubbish. Abone the exterior of entrance is carved E PULVERE LUX ET VIS. This can be translated as Light and Power From Dust.

Location: The National Centre for Circus Arts, 5 Coronet Street, N1 6HD (blue, yellow)

See Also: WASTE

Website: www.nationalcircus.org.uk/shoreditch-electric

Transport

Greenwich Power Station

Greenwich Power Station (1906) powered trams before the Underground. Originally, it burned coal and oil. In 1988 it became London Transport s back-up power supplier. It burns gas.

Location: Old Woolwich Road, SE10 9LU

Lots Road Power Station

The Lots Road power station (1905) was built to generate electricity for the District Line.

Chinese mitten crabs were to be found in the Thames by Lots Road Power Station because warm water was discharged into the river.

In 2000 London Transport sold the 6.2-acre Lots Road site.

Location: Lots Road, SW10 0SW (red, blue)

Neasden Power Station

Neasden Power Station (1904) was built to supply the Metropolitan Line with electricity. It generated power by burning coal, which was delivered by rail. In 1933 the facility was acquired by London Transport. It was closed in 1968.

Location: 103 Quainton Street, NW10 0BG

The Gardeners Shed

S.J. Thacker designed Soho Square s Gardeners Shed (1875-6). It was the ventilation shaft for an electric transformer station.

Looking towards Dean Street you can see in the flowerbeds the stairs to the space underneath. This is almost the size of the park. Concern has been expressed about the plane trees growing down into it and causing the structure to collapse.

Location: Soho Square, W1D 3QN (red, blue)

Westminster Electric Supply Corporation

Duke Street Transformer Station

Duke Street Transformer Station (1905) is a partially sunken electricity sub-station. The Edwardian Baroque structure that was designed by C. Stanley Peach for the Westminster Electric Supply Corporation to service the Grosvenor Estate s Mayfair estate. Its roof supports a garden that is open to the public upon which two domed structures stand.

Location: Duke Street, W1Y 5HJ (red, pink)

David Backhouse 2024