Bankside Power Station is a decommissioned electricity generating station located on the south bank of the River Thames, in the Bankside area of the Borough of Southwark, London. It generated electricity from 1891 to 1981. It was also used as a training base for electrical and mechanical student apprenticeships from all over the country. Since 2000 the building has been used to house the Tate Modern art museum and gallery.
Pioneer station
The pioneer Bankside power station was built at Meredith Wharf Bankside in 1891. It was owned and operated by the City of London Electric Lighting Company (CLELCo) and supplied electricity to the City and to part of north Southwark. The generating equipment was installed by the Brush Electrical Engineering Company and comprised two pairs of 25 kW Brush arc-lighters and two 100 kW single phase alternators generating at 2 kV and 100 Hz. This equipment first supplied direct current (DC) electricity to arc lamp street lights in Queen Victoria Street on 25 June 1891. Alternating current (AC) for domestic and commercial consumers was first supplied on 14 December 1891, this was a single-phase, 100 Hz, three-wire, 204/102 volt system. Electricity cables were carried over Southwark bridge and Blackfriars bridge.
Bankside A, 1893–1959
The power station, later known as Bankside A, was extended several times as the demand for electricity grew.
An engine room, 230 ft (70 m) long and 50 ft (15 m) wide, was built in 1893 with two 200 kW, two 350 kW and two 400 kW alternators driven by Willans engines. The associated boiler house was the same length and had nine Babcock and Wilcox boilers. In 1895 the engine room was extended to 424 ft (129 m) and the boiler house to 300 ft (91 m) containing 22 boilers.
A DC supply for the printing presses of Fleet Street was provided from a DC power house at Bankside built in 1900.
In 1901 the boiler house was doubled in width and contained 46 boilers. In the engine room there were ten British Thomson-Houston alternators directly coupled to three-crank Willans engines, eight Brush alternators with a capacity of 3,600 kW driven by two-cylinder compound Brush engines, and two Ferranti compound engines driving 1,500 kW alternators at 150 RPM, making an aggregate capacity of 10,500 kW. By 1907 the capacity of the station was 25,500 kW with 15,000 kW being DC machinery.
The first 2,500 kW turbo-alternator was installed in December 1910 and a second in January 1911, others followed at nearly yearly intervals. By 1920 there were seven turbo-alternators with an aggregate capacity of 19,500 kW. Until 1919 the system of generation was 2 kV, single-phase AC, and 450 V DC, this was changed that year to 11 kV, three-phase AC. The steam conditions were also increased from 150 psi to 250 psi with superheat to .
Over the period 1921–1928 a new boiler house was built alongside the east face of the power house. This had 18 boilers. The coal strike of 1921 led to six of the boilers being specified for oil firing, although two of these were later returned to coal firing. The old boiler house and its three 150 ft (46 m) chimneys were demolished.
In 1934 Bankside was connected to London ring of the National Grid and became a 'selected' station under the operational control of the Central Electricity Board.
Equipment at Bankside A
Following construction of new boiler house in 1921–1928, the steam plant at Bankside A throughout the remainder of its operational life comprised: twelve Babcock 50,000 lb/hr boilers (four oil-fired, eight coal-fired chain grate); four coal-fired Yarrow 65,000 lb/hr boilers; and two coal-fired Yarrow 70,000 lb/hr boilers. The operating pressure was 260 psi at 600-700 °F. The total evaporative capacity was 850,000 lb/hr. Condenser cooling water was drawn from the river Thames through a pump house located on the river bank at 7,800,000 gallons per hour.
At its peak in the 1930s the generating equipment comprised: one 5 MW, five 10 MW, two 15 MW Oerlikon and British Thomson-Houston turbo-alternators, and one Parsons 4 MW house service set (450-500 V), total capacity 89 MW. Some of the older plant was decommissioned. By 1952 the plant comprised one 5 MW and two 10 MW Oerlikon turbo-alternators, two 10 MW and two 15 MW B.T.H. turbo-alternators and one Parsons 4 MW set.