Cliff Quay Power Station was a

coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide, there are about 8,500 coal-fired power stations totaling over 2,000 gigawatts Nameplate capacity, capacity. They ...

situated to the south of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

in the

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. The station was designed by

Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners was a British firm of consulting civil engineers, based at Queen Anne's Lodge, Queen Anne's Gate and subsequently Telford House, Tothill Street, Westminster, London, until 1974, when it relocated to Earley House, 427 ...

and built by the Cleveland Bridge Company.

History

Cliff Quay power station was a larger replacement for the earlier Ipswich power station of c.1919, built by

Ipswich Corporation The Ipswich Corporation was a historic local government that owned property and governed in Ipswich, Suffolk. Since its foundation in 1200, the corporation has kept often highly detailed accounts of their operation. A great deal of these survive t ...

Ipswich power station

In 1923 Ipswich power station comprised two 3 MW turbo alternators and one 225 kW reciprocating machine providing a 3-phase, 50 Hz, 230 and 400 Volt AC supply. In addition there were two 1 MW turbines and one 500 kW reciprocating machines generating a 230 and 460 Volt DC supply. The generators were powered by 93,500 pounds per hour of steam. In 1923 the maximum load on the system was 3,867 kW from 13,349 consumers. A total of 5.750 GWh of electricity was sold in 1923 for £67,198. This produced a surplus of revenue over expenses of £35,773. Upon

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of the British electricity supply industry in 1948 the ownership of Ipswich power station was vested in the

British Electricity Authority The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established as the central British electricity authority in 1948 under the nationalisation of Great Britain's electricity supply industry enacted by the Electricity Act 1947. The BEA was responsible for ...

, and subsequently the Central Electricity Authority and the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB). At the same time the electricity distribution and sales responsibilities of the Ipswich electricity undertaking were transferred to the

Eastern Electricity Board Eastern Electricity plc was an electricity supply and distribution utility serving eastern England, including East Anglia and part of Greater London. It was renamed ''Eastern Group'' under which name it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and ...

. In 1961 Ipswich power station had an installed electricity generating capacity of 17.25 MW. This was from one 6.25 MW, one 5 MW and two 3 MW Brush-Ljungstrom turbo-alternators. A DC supply was available from two 2 MW and one 1 MW Mather Platt and one 1.5 MW

British Thomson-Houston British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England, and founded as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (GE) of Schenectady, New York, United States. They were kno ...

rotary converters. The three Babcock and Wilcox chain grate boilers produced steam at a rate of 162,000 lb/hr (20.4 kg/s) at a pressure of 250 psi (17.2 bar) and 338 °C. The station used water from the rivers Orwell and Gipping for condensing and cooling. In 1961 the thermal efficiency of the station was 6.09 per cent. The electricity output over the period 1954-66 was as follows.CEGB ''Annual Report and Accounts'', various years Ipswich power station was decommissioned in 1967.

Cliff Quay

Cliff Quay power station was sanctioned in March 1939 and construction commenced in June 1945 undertaken by the Ipswich Corporation. Upon nationalisation on 1 April 1948 ownership and construction became the responsibility of the British Electricity Authority. The first generating set was commissioned in March 1949 and the following sets in June 1949, September 1949, May 1950, December 1950 and September 1952. Cliff Quay power station was built on a 104-acre (42.1 ha) site on the north bank of the River Orwell 2 miles south of Ipswich. The area included 17 acres (6.9 ha) of foreshore reclaimed as a coal store and 40 acres (16.1 ha) reclaimed as an ash lagoon.

Specification

The station had a total installed generating capacity of 276 megawatt (MW)''CEGB Statistical Yearbooks'' (various dates). CEGB, London. and comprised six 46 MW turbo generators made by Metropolitan-Vickers. The station's nine boilers were made by Babcock Power Ltd, and burned pulverised

bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...

. The boilers produced steam at a total rate of 3,285,000 lb/hr (414 kg/s) at a pressure of 600 psi (41.4

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

) and 441 °C. River / sea water was used for condensing and cooling. In 1961 the thermal efficiency of the station was 25.28 per cent. The electricity output of the station in GWh over the period 1954-84 was as follows.
In 1958 the Ipswich electricity district supplied an area of 103 square miles and a population of 145,700. The amount of electricity sold and the number and types of consumers was as follows: In 1958 the above totals were made up of the following:

Closure

A fire in September 1982 caused major damage to the station. It finally closed in 1985. The station was then demolished in November 1994. The station was demolished by MJ Finnigan & Co. In 1997, a 7,500 square metre bulk storage shed was built on the site of the power station.

References

External links

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Photo of the chimney demolition
{{East of England powerstations 1949 establishments in England 1985 disestablishments in England Energy infrastructure completed in 1949 Buildings and structures demolished in 1994 Power stations in the East of England Greenwich, Ipswich Demolished power stations in the United Kingdom Former power stations in England Former coal-fired power stations in the United Kingdom Coal-fired power stations in England