Barrow-in-Furness power station

Barrow-in-Furness power station supplied electricity to the town of Barrow-in-Furness and the wider area of Lancashire, England from 1899 to about 1960. It was owned and operated by Barrow-in-Furness Corporation until the nationalisation of the UK electricity supply industry in 1948. The power station was redeveloped throughout its operational life. Barrow-in-Furness Corporation also operated Coniston hydro-electric power station.

In 1894 Barrow-in-Furness Corporation applied for a provisional order under the Electric Lighting Acts to generate and supply electricity to the town. The Barrow-in-Furness Corporation Electric Lighting Order 1894 was granted by the Board of Trade and was confirmed by Parliament through the Electric Lighting Orders Confirmation (No. 1) Act 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. xlix). The power station was built in Buccleugh Street (54°06′59″N 3°13′19″W) adjacent to the railway line, it first supplied electricity to the town in 1899. Coniston power station was developed as a small hydro-electric plant in 1932 with a single water turbine, a second turbine was added in 1937. The installation initially supplied power for Barrow County Council and latterly for the village of Coniston. The 120 MW Roosecote power station east of the town centre was first commissioned in September 1953. This was more efficient than the old Barrow power station which was gradually run-down and decommissioned in about 1960.

At opening the station was equipped with three Babcock and Wilcox boilers feeding steam to three Brush Electrical Engineering Co. sets of 75 kW each. Power was distributed at 1100 Volts to three remote substations where it was reduced using motor generating sets. In 1923 the steam generating plant at Barrow comprised:

Coal-fired boilers generating up to 112,000 lb/h (14.11 kg/s) of steam, these supplied steam to: Generators 3 × 75 kW reciprocating engines driving direct current (DC) generators 2 × 150 kW reciprocating engines driving DC generators 2 × 250 kW reciprocating engines driving DC generators 1 × 1,000 kW steam turbo-alternator 1 × 2,000 kW steam turbo-alternator 1 × 3,000 kW steam turbo-alternator These machines had a total generating capacity of 8,000 kW of alternating current and 1,025 kW direct current. In January 1939 a Metropolitan-Vickers10,000 kW turbo alternator set was commissioned fed by a 75,000 Ib/hr boiler. A variety of electricity supplies were available to consumers:

3-phase, 50 Hz AC at 6,300 Volts, 380 V and 220 V. Direct current at 500, 440 and 220 Volts. Coal could be delivered to the station from a siding off the railway just south of Barrow-in-Furness railway station.

New plant was commissioned over the operational life of the station. In the late 1950s the plant at the station comprised:

Boilers: 3 × Stirling boilers with chain grate stokers, all with a final steam pressure of 200 psi (13.8 bar), and with capacities of : 30,000 lb/h (3.78 kg/s) at 650 °F (343 °C); 55,000 lb/h (6.93 kg/s) at 700 °F (371 °C); 90,000 lb/h (11.3 kg/s) at 700 °F (371 °C) The boilers had a total evaporative capacity of 175,000 lb/h (22.0 kg/s), and supplied steam to:

Turbo-alternators: 1 × Metropolitan Vickers 10 MW turbo-alternator, with Vickers condensing plant 1 × Metropolitan Vickers 7 MW turbo-alternator, with Vickers condensing plant 1 × Howden-Siemens 1 MW turbo-alternator, with Willans and Robinson condensing plant 1 × Howden-Siemens 3 MW turbo-alternator, with Worthington Simpsons condensing plant 1 × British Thomson-Houston 2 MW turbo-alternator, with Cole, Merchant and Morley's surface condensing plant The total installed generating capacity was 23 MW, with an output capacity of 14 MW. Condenser cooling water was cooled in three wooden cooling towers with a combined capacity of 0.45 million gallons

Power station data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).