Leeds power station, also known as Whitehall Road power station, supplied electricity to the city of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

and the surrounding area from 1893 to 1965. It was initially built, owned and operated by the Yorkshire House-to-House Electricity Company Limited. Leeds Corporation took over the electricity undertaking in 1898 and generated and distributed electricity until the nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry in 1948. The power station was redeveloped several times to meet increasing demand for electricity.

History

Leeds town council had conducted experiments with electric lighting in the mid-1880s. The council had rejected a proposal in 1889 to provide electricity to the public as being too speculative. The Yorkshire House-to-House Electricity Company Limited (registered on 26 June 1889) applied for a Provisional Order under the ''Electric Lighting Acts'' to generate and supply electricity to the city. This was granted by the Board of Trade and was confirmed by Parliament through the ''Electric Lighting Orders Confirmation (No. 12) Act 1891'' (54 & 55 Vict. c. cvi). The company established a successful electricity supply system including a power station at Whitehall Road (53°47'43"N 1°33'07"W). Electricity was first supplied in May 1893. In 1898 Leeds Corporation resolved to purchase the undertaking under Clause 59 of the Company’s Provisional Order. The purchase price offer was 40 percent above the cost of the Company’s system, and the transfer of ownership took place in 1898.

Equipment specification

Plant in 1898

The original plant at Leeds power station comprised compound and vertical condensing engines coupled directly and by ropes to Lowrie-Parker and Hall dynamos, and Ferranti and ECC alternators. In 1898 the generating capacity was 1,500 kW and the maximum load was 1,010 kW.

Plant in 1923

By 1923 the generating plant comprised: * Coal-fired boilers generating up to 996,800 lb/h (126 kg/s) of steam, which was supplied to: * Generators: ** 2 × 3,000 kW steam turbo-alternators ** 3 × 6,000 kW steam turbo-alternators ** 2 × 7,500 kW steam turbo-alternators ** 1 × 12,000 kW steam turbo-alternator These machines gave a total generating capacity of 51 MW of

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...

. The electricity supply available to consumers was: * 2- phase, 50 Hz AC at 100, 200 and 400 Volts * 3-phase, 50 Hz AC at 346 and 200 Volts.

Plant in 1955

By 1955 the plant at Whitehall Road comprised: * Boilers: ** 14 ×

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boilers with chain grate stokers and a total capacity of 480,000 lb/h (60.5 kg/s), steam conditions 185

psi Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to: Alphabetic letters * Psi (Greek) (Ψ, ψ), the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet * Psi (Cyrillic) (Ѱ, ѱ), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek Arts and entertainment * "Psi" as an abbreviatio ...

and 550°F (12.8 bar, 288°C), supplied to: * Turbo-alternators: ** 1 × 12 MW British Thomson-Houston turbo-alternator ** 1 × 10 MW British Thomson-Houston turbo-alternator ** 1 × 15 MW

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...

turbo-alternators The total installed generating capacity was 37 MW. Condenser cooling water was drawn from the adjacent

River Aire The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malham to Howden is direct, but the river's meanderings extend that to . Between Malham Tarn and Ai ...

Operations

In 1898 the amount of electricity sold to the 576 consumers was 833,280 kWh. There was estimated to be the equivalent of 49,150 (8 candle power) lamps on the circuits.

Operating data 1921–23

The operating data for the period 1921–23 was: Under the terms of the ''Electricity (Supply) Act 1926'' (16 & 17 Geo. 5 c. 51) the

Central Electricity Board The United Kingdom Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established by the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926. It had the duty to supply electricity to authorised electricity undertakers, to determine which power stations would be 'selected' stations ...

(CEB) was established in 1926. The CEB identified high efficiency ‘selected’ power stations that would supply electricity most effectively; Leeds was designated a selected station. The CEB also constructed the national grid (1927–33) to connect power stations within a region.

Operating data 1946

Leeds power station operating data in 1946 was:

Nationalisation

The British electricity supply industry was nationalised in 1948 under the provisions of the ''Electricity Act 1947'' (10 & 11 Geo. 6 c. 54). The Leeds electricity undertaking was abolished, ownership of Leeds power station was vested in the British Electricity Authority, and subsequently the

Central Electricity Authority The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) was a body that managed and operated the electricity supply industry in England and Wales between 1 April 1955 and 31 December 1957. The CEA replaced the earlier British Electricity Authority (BEA) as a r ...

and the

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Janua ...

(CEGB). At the same time the electricity distribution and sales responsibilities of the Leeds electricity undertaking were transferred to the

Yorkshire Electricity Board Yorkshire Electricity was an electricity distribution utility in England, serving much of Yorkshire and parts of Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. History Formed as the Yorkshire Electricity Board in 1948 as part of the nationalisat ...

(YEB).

Operating data 1954–63

Operating data for the period 1954–63 was: Leeds was an electricity supply district, covering 87 square miles (225 km²) and including the city and county borough of Leeds, the borough of Morley and part of the district of Rothwell with a total population of 562,000 in 1958. The number of consumers and electricity sold in the Leeds district was:

Closure

Leeds (Whitehall Road) power station was decommissioned in the late 1960s.Leeds power station was operational in 1963 but does not appear in CEGB Yearbook 1972 The buildings were subsequently used as a CEGB training centre for many years until final closure. The building has been demolished and the area has been redeveloped with commercial premises.

References

{{Reflist Coal-fired power stations in England Demolished power stations in the United Kingdom Former power stations in England Buildings and structures in Leeds