Southampton Power Station was a coal fired power station built by Southampton Corporation that operated between 1904 and 1977.

History

The Southampton Electric Lighting and Power Company supplied electricity to Southampton from 1891, from a small power station at Back-of-the-Walls. Southampton Corporation purchased the Company in 1896 for £21,000. By 1897, the plant had a generating capacity of 300 kW with a maximum load of 262 kW. A total of 191.868 MWh of electricity was sold which provided an income to the corporation of £4,276-4-6. The Corporation built a larger power station in 1903-4 on reclaimed land near the western end of Southampton Railway Tunnel. In the same year, a siding was built from the railway to the site of the power plant. The siding was initially used to bring construction materials onto the site but once construction was complete the siding was used to move coal. The siding was worked by an 0-4-0 locomotive built by Southampton Corporation Tramways workshops powered by electric overhead wires. In 1925 American hard-shelled clams were introduced into the

River Test The River Test is a chalk stream in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises at Ashe near Basingstoke and flows southwards for to Southampton Water. Settlements on the Test include the towns of Stockbridge and Romsey. Below the village o ...

, in an area warmed by cooling water discharge of the power station. This was done as an attempt to breed them to allow them to be used as eel bait. Since their introduction the clams have spread through

Southampton water Southampton Water is a tidal estuary north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight in England. The city of Southampton lies at its most northerly point, where the estuaries of the River Test and River Itchen meet. Along its salt marsh-fringed wes ...

and into

Portsmouth Harbour Portsmouth Harbour is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Portsmouth and Gosport in Hampshire. It is a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area. It is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it i ...

and

Langstone Harbour Langstone Harbour is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Hampshire. It is an inlet of the English Channel in Hampshire, sandwiched between Portsea Island to the south and west, Hayling Island to the south and east, and Lan ...

. The power station expanded in the 1920s. This expansion required an extra train which was purchased in 1931 from Baguley (Engineers) Ltd. Further increase in demand resulted in a third locomotive being purchased in 1939 this time from

Greenwood & Batley Greenwood & Batley were a large engineering manufacturer with a wide range of products, including armaments, electrical engineering, and printing and milling machinery. They also produced a range of battery-electric railway locomotives under the ...

Specification

By 1923 the plant at Southampton power station comprised 1 × 1,500 kW, 1 × 3,000 kW and 1 × 5,000 kW turbo-alternators producing

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 ...

. There was also 1 × 1,260 kW turbo-alternator and 1 × 500 kW and 2 × 1,000 kW reciprocating engines producing

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even ...

. All these machines were fed with steam at up to 274,000 pounds per hour. The maximum load on the system was 6,824 kW and in 1923 there were 15,747 consumers connected. Electricity was available to consumers at 415 & 240, 3-phase, 50 Hz AC; 200 V, 2-phase, 50 Hz AC; 400 & 200 V DC; and 500 V DC for traction current. In 1923 a total of 10.947 GWh of electricity was sold. This generated revenue of £128,192, and the surplus of revenue over expenses of £48,336 for the corporation. By the 1950s the plant at Southampton power station comprised: * Steam plant: nine Babcock and Wilcox coal-fired boilers: ** Six low pressure LP (280,000 lb/hr, 220

psig The pound per square inch or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch (symbol: lbf/in2; abbreviation: psi) is a unit of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units. It is the pressure resulting from a force of one pound-force applied to ...

, 750 °F) (35.3 kg/s, 15.2

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 ...

, 399 °C) boilers ** Three high pressure HP (576,000 lb/hr, 425 psig, 820 °F) (72.6 kg/s, 29.3 bar, 438 °C) boilers. Cooling was by seawater. * Generating plant ** One 7 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 ...

LP turbo-alternator ** One 6 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 ...

LP turbo-alternator ** One 10 MW Fraser & Chalmers - GEC LP turbo-alternator ** One 15 MW Fraser & Chalmers - GEC LP turbo-alternator ** Two 25 MW Parsons HP turbo-alternators

Nationalisation

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 Southampton 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 Januar ...

(CEGB). The electricity distribution and sales functions were vested in the South Western Electricity Board. After World War 2 the supply of coal switched to road transport and the siding ceased to be used. The Southampton Corporation Tramways built locomotive was scrapped in 1953 with the remaining two meeting the same fate in 1960. The siding was removed in 1964.

Operations

The electricity output from the station was as follows. In 1951 extractors were added to the plant to reduce the level of grit in the smoke. The power station closed in 1977 and was demolished the same year. Southampton power station does not appear in the CEGB list of operational power stations in 1972.

References

{{Electricity generation in South East England Power stations in South East England Buildings and structures in Southampton