Lister Drive power station was a series of generating stations that supplied electricity to the City of Liverpool and the wider area from 1900 until 1980. They were owned and collaboratively operated by Liverpool Corporation and Marcus Kemp Coal Limited until the nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry in 1948. The power station was developed in several phases: designated No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 stations. A gas turbine station was commissioned in March 1965.

Equipment specification

Plant in 1923

In 1923 the plant comprised: * Boilers, producing 1,000,000 lb/h (126 kg/s) of steam supplying: * Steam turbine generating sets: ** 6 × 2,000 kW AC ** 2 × 3,500 kW AC ** 2 × 6,000 kW AC ** 1 × 10,000 kW AC ** 2 × 12,500 kW AC ** 2 × 2,000 kW DC The total output was 66.0 MW AC and 4.0 MW DC.

No. 3 power station

The No. 3 Station was constructed in 1926–28 and comprised: * Boilers: ** 2 × 60,000 lb/h (7.6 kg/s) Yarrow, stoker fired ** 4 × 60,000 lb/h (7.6 kg/s) Babcock and Wilcox, stoker fired ** 2 × 125,000 lb/h (15.75 kg/s) Babcock and Wilcox, pulverised fuel fired * The working pressure of the boilers was 325

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at 700°F (22.4 bar, 371°C). * Turbo-alternators: ** 2 × 25 MW

Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...

turbo-alternator An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature.Go ...

generating at 6.3 kV, each with a 375 kW 480 V DC auxiliary generator. * Cooling towers: ** 5 × Henshaw

cooling towers A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and ...

each with a capacity of 2.615 million gallons per hour (3.302 m³/sec). These were the first ferro-concrete hyperbolic cooling tower in the UK. The Lister Drive towers were 39.6 m high and 30.5 m in diameter at the base. Coal was delivered to Lister Drive via sidings from the adjacent Edge Hill and Bootle railway line. A range of electricity supplies were available (in 1923) to consumers: * 3-phase, 50 Hz AC at 230 and 400 Volts. * DC 230 and 460 V * DC Traction current 500 V

Other Liverpool power stations

Lister Drive was the principal power station serving Liverpool. There were other power stations connected to the system supplying electricity to the City. In 1923 there were five rubbish destructors burning trade and domestic refuse, the steam raised in the destructor furnaces drove steam turbines. There were 7 × 100 kW, 2 × 150 kW, 5 × 200 kW, and 1 × 500 kW machines generating a DC supply. The total generating capacity was 2.5 MW. Clarence Dock power station was constructed for Liverpool Corporation in 1931 to be an integral part of the local electricity grid system supplying, in conjunction with Lister Drive, electricity throughout Liverpool. In 1965 two 56 MW fuel oil fired English Electric gas turbines were installed at Lister Drive. Each machine had two power turbines coupled to alternators. The gas turbines were used to meet peak demand.

Operations

Operating data 1921–23

The operating data for the period 1921–23 is shown in the table: There was a significant growth of demand and use of electricity in this period. 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; Lister Drive was designated a selected station. The CEB also constructed the national grid (1927–33) to connect power stations within a region. Lister Drive power station was connected to an electricity grid ring which included

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

, Preston ( Ribble),

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

and

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

( Westwood); this was one of three electricity rings in the North West. The others were

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

Padiham Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...

, Rawtenstall and Kearsley power stations ring; and the third was

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

, Tame Valley and Stockport ring.

Operating data 1946

Lister Drive power station operating data for 1946 is shown in the table. The British electricity supply industry was nationalised in 1948 under the provisions of the ''Electricity Act 1947'' (10-11 Geo. 6 c. 54). The Liverpool Corporation electricity undertaking was abolished, ownership of Lister Drive 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 Liverpool Corporation electricity undertaking were transferred to the

Merseyside and North Wales Electricity Board SP Manweb is the regional electricity distribution network operator (DNO) for Merseyside, North Wales and parts of Cheshire. It is now part of SP Energy Networks, itself a subsidiary of the Spanish energy company Iberdrola. Nationalised in ...

(MANWEB).

Operating data 1954–79

Operating data for the period 1954–79 is shown in the table: The plant was used less intensive over the period 1954–62 as its

thermal efficiency In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency (\eta_) is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, steam turbine, steam engine, boiler, furnace, refrigerator, ACs etc. For a ...

decreased and Liverpool used electricity from the national grid.

Closure

Lister Drive power station was decommissioned in about 1981. The buildings were subsequently demolished and the area has been redeveloped. The cooling towers were demolished on 8 May 1994. A 275 kV substation is still operational east of the former power station site.

References

{{North West Power Stations Coal-fired power stations in England Demolished power stations in the United Kingdom Former power stations in England Buildings and structures in Liverpool