Barton 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 ...
on the
Bridgewater Canal
The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was opened in 1761 from Wo ...
in
Trafford Park
Trafford Park is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, opposite Salford Quays on the southern side of the Manchester Ship Canal, southwest of Manchester city centre and north of Stretford. Until the l ...
, near
Eccles,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
.
History
The construction of the station began in 1920 and operation began in 1923. The station's original equipment consisted of three
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 ...
27.5 MW turbo-alternators, nine
Babcock & Wilcox
Babcock & Wilcox is an American renewable, environmental and thermal energy technologies and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets across the globe with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio, USA. Historicall ...
chain-grate stoked boilers,
Mather & Platt
Mather & Platt is the name of several large engineering firms in Europe, South Africa and Asia that are subsidiaries of Wilo SE, Germany or were founded by former employees. The original company was founded in the Newton Heath area of Manchester, ...
auxiliary equipment and
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 ...
switchgear
In an electric power system, a switchgear is composed of electrical disconnect switches, fuses or circuit breakers used to control, protect and isolate electrical equipment. Switchgear is used both to de-energize equipment to allow work to be ...
. The station supplied electricity to an area of 3,100 square kilometers and was one of the most advanced power stations of the time.
Coal was delivered to the station in
barges
Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...
, using the Bridgewater Canal.
Steam condensing and cooling was by water abstracted from the canal.
The station was extended twice with Metropolitan-Vickers supplying a 40 MW generating set in 1928, followed by an additional 50 MW set in 1938.
In 1972 it had one 39 MW operational set and one 51.5 MW set. Thee boilers delivered 770,000 lb/h (97 kg/s) of steam at 350
psi (24.1
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 ( ...
) and 371/441 °C. In that year the station sent out 72.149 GWh, the load factor was 11.9 percent and the thermal efficiency was 17.86 per cent.
The station was closed on 18 March 1974 with a reduced generating capacity of 69 MW. At the time the station was
co-firing oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
.
The station was then demolished in 1978 and 1979.
The first chimney was demolished in June 1979.
A
B&Q store now stands on the site of the station.
See also
*
Timeline of the UK electricity supply industry
*
List of power stations in England
This is a list of current and former electricity-generating power stations in England. For lists sorted by type, including proposed stations, see the see also section below.
:''Note that BEIS maintaina comprehensive list of UK power stations ...
*
List of pre-nationalisation UK electric power companies
The electrical power industry in the United Kingdom was nationalised by the Electricity Act 1947, when over six hundred electric power companies were merged into twelve area boards.
List of companies
Companies merged into East Midlands Electrici ...
*
National Grid (UK)
In the electricity sector in the United Kingdom, the National Grid is the high-voltage electric power transmission network serving Great Britain, connecting power stations and major substations and ensuring that electricity generated anywhere on ...
*
Stuart Street power station
References
External links
"Reinforced-Concrete Chimney Towers at the Barton Power-Station." By ARNOLD ATHERTON BSc.
{{Authority control
Coal-fired power stations in England
Power stations in North West England
Demolished buildings and structures in Greater Manchester
Eccles, Greater Manchester