Close Power Station

Close Power Station
Location of Close Power Station in Tyne and Wear
Country	England
Location	Tyne and Wear, North East England
Coordinates	54°57′54″N 1°36′50″W / 54.965°N 1.614°W / 54.965; -1.614Coordinates: 54°57′54″N 1°36′50″W / 54.965°N 1.614°W / 54.965; -1.614
Status	Demolished
Commission date	1902
Decommission date	1948
Operator(s)	Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company
Thermal power station
Primary fuel	Coal
Power generation
Nameplate capacity	1902: 1,000 kW 1907: 5,000 kW
grid reference NZ248636

Close Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on Newcastle upon Tyne's Quayside, in Tyne and Wear. The station was built by the Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company in 1902, near their Forth Banks Power Station.^[1]

Specification and operation

The station was of a steel frame and brick clad construction with the boiler house and turbine hall built alongside each other, a modern design at the time. The station had no rail sidings and so instead coal was brought to it by cart from the colliery. Coal was also delivered by barge, via a nearby boat landing on the River Tyne. The coal-fired five Stirling boilers, each with 600 HP capacity. Two further boilers were installed in 1907. Coal was fed into the boilers by overhead hoppers, which used automatic stokers. Conveyor belts were used to transport coal to the boilers, and to take ash away from them.^[2]

The station initially used one Parsons steam turbine to drive two 500 kilowatt (kW) dynamos, giving the station a total generating capacity of 1,000 kW.^[3] However, by 1907 the station had been extended to generate using two DC Parsons 1,500 kW sets, fitted with vacuum augmenters, and a further two 1,000 kW generators. This gave the station a total generating capacity of 5,000 kW. Condensing water was pumped directly from the River Tyne, which it was situated upon.^[2]

1,540 customers would come to the power station's shops to have their meters tester and repaired.^[2]

History

The station was built after the neighbouring Forth Banks Power Station required frequent expansion, as demand grew. It was built on a large adjacent piece of land.^[2] During the Second World War there was a suspected unexploded bomb found in a coal dump at the station, however it was discredited.^[4] The station continued operating until roughly 1948, when the UK's electrical supply industry was nationalised.^[5] The station has since been demolished, and an electric substation now stands on the site.

References

Electricity generation in North East England
Generating sites	Biomass Active Biomass Energy Centre Lynemouth (co-fires) Wilton 10 Proposed BEI-Teesside Billingham North Blyth Teesport Tyne REP Coal Active Lynemouth Closed Berwick upon Tweed Blyth Carville Chopwell Colliery Close Consett Darlington Derwenthaugh Coke Works Dunston Forth Banks Hebburn Horden Colliery Lemington Mainsforth Colliery Manors Morrison Busty Colliery Neptune Bank Newburn Steelworks North Tees Ouston Colliery Pandon Dene Philadelphia South Shore Road South Shields Stella Sunderland Vane Tempest Colliery Whinfield Proposed Eston Grange (Gasification) Cancelled Blyth Clean Coal Kepier Gas Active Seal Sands Teesside Wilton Proposed ConocoPhillips Teesside Thor Cogeneration Cancelled Newburn Hydro Active Derwent Kielder Closed Cragside Nuclear Active Hartlepool Cancelled Druridge Bay Oil Active Wilton Waste Active Teesside Path Head landfill Closed Blaydon Burn Derwenthaugh Coke Works Newburn Steelworks Portrack Whinfield Proposed North Eastern Energy Recovery Centre Wilton 11 Cancelled Blyth Wind Active Blyth Harbour Blyth Offshore Broom Hill Great Eppleton Hare Hill High Sharpley High Volts Holmside Hall Kirkheaton Langley Park Teesside Tow Law Trimdon Grange Walkway West Durham Proposed Butterwick Moor Haswell Moor Kiln Pit Hill Lynemouth Royal Oak Barmoor South Green Rigg Kielder Moorsyde Ray Hill South Sharpley Steadings Teeswind North The Isles Todd Hill West Ancroft Wingates
Organisations and personnel	A. Reyrolle & Company C. A. Parsons and Company Northern Powergrid Charles Algernon Parsons Charles Hesterman Merz Clarke Chapman John Theodore Merz L J Couves & Partners Merz & McLellan NaREC Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company North Eastern Electric Supply Company Northern Electric Northern Engineering Industries Pre-nationalisation North East electric power companies
Book:Electricity generation in North East England Category:Power stations in North East England Portal:Energy