# Stoke-on-Trent power station

Central Power House (Hanley) supplied electricity to the county borough and later city of Stoke-on-Trent, England and the surrounding area from the 10th April 1913 to the 1960s. The power station was initially owned and operated by Stoke-on-Trent Corporation, then by the North West Midlands Joint Electricity Authority prior to the nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry in 1948. The power station operated in conjunction with power stations at Burslem, Hanley (original smaller power station on the same site as the Central Power House), Stoke-upon-Trent and Longton.

## History

Electricity was first made available in the Potteries area from a power station at Hanley (Bethesda Road/Park Road). This was owned by Hanley Corporation and first generated electricity on 26 July 1894. The station had a generating capacity of 624 kW and in 1898 supplied 255,383 kWh to 30 customers, plus 96,379 kWh for public lamps. A generating station at Longton (Edward Street, later renamed King Edward Street, now demolished) was commissioned in September 1901, Stoke-upon-Trent (Bagnall Street, renamed Yeaman Street) in 1904 and another at Burslem (Scotia Road) in 1905.
The ‘six towns’ were federated to form the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in April 1910. Electricity supplies were brought under common management in 1910 and construction of a large a new power station on the River Trent was started alongside the existing original Hanley power station. The Central Power House (53°01′01″N 02°10′18″W﻿ / ﻿53.01694°N 2.17167°W﻿ / 53.01694; -2.17167) was commissioned in April 1913. Further electricity generating plant was added to the station from 1919 to 1929.
Central Power House was the main Electricity Works, and the Hanley, Longton, Burslem and Stoke-upon-Trent sites were referred to as ‘Sub-Works’. The Longton, Burslem & Stoke-upon-Trent Sub-Works were later used as conversion stations during the transitioning period of DC to AC electricity supplies. Once the changeover from DC to AC was fully complete just before Christmas 1938, the conversion equipment was sold and these sub-works were later used as regular distribution substations as part of the wider network of 120 substations planned as a minimum to supply the city.
The first AC 6.6kV substation switched on in the city was at the Goldendale Iron Co. Ltd in Tunstall and was switched on in 1915. The second being at the Electric and Ordnance Accessories Co. Ltd in Slippery Lane, Hanley of the same year. These no longer exist and were decommissioned many years ago. The oldest surviving substation is located at Napier Street, Fenton, originally called Boving which was the third substation commissioned. This is thought to have been switched on in 1923, the large gap since the second substation being due to the War.

## Equipment specification
### Plant in 1923

In 1923 the generating stations and their plant comprised:
Stoke-on-Trent electricity plant 1923 :
| Plant | Burslem | Hanley | Stoke | Central power House |
| Boiler plant, lb/h (kg/s) | 44,000 (5.5) | 42,000 (5.29) | 32,000 (4.03) | 190,000 (23.94) |
| Steam-driven AC generating plant | 1 × 1 MW turbine | 2 × 0.5 MW reciprocating engines | 1 × 1 MW turbine | 2 × 1.5 MW turbines 2 × 3 MW turbines |
| Steam-driven DC generating plant | 1 × 0.35 MW reciprocating engine 1 × 0.6 MW turbine | – | 2 × 0.25 MW reciprocating engines | – |
The following types of electric current were available to consumers:
* Single phase, alternating current (AC) at 400, 200 and 100 Volts
* 3-phase, 50 Hz AC at 415 and 240 Volts
* Direct current (DC) 440 and 220 Volts
* DC 460 and 230 Volts
* DC 480 and 240 Volts

### Plant in 1955

By 1955 the plant at Stoke-on-Trent power station comprised:
* Boilers:
** 2 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers with chain grate stokers
** 2 × Thompson boilers with underfeed travelling grates
** 4 × Stirling boilers with underfeed travelling grates
The boilers had a total evaporative capacity of 360,000 lb/h (45.36 kg/s), and operated at 275 psi and 660°F (19.0 bar at 349°C), steam was supplied to:
* Turbo-alternators:
** 2 × Metropolitan-Vickers 3.0 MW turbo-alternator, generating at 6.6 kV
** 2 × Metropolitan-Vickers 12.0 MW turbo-alternator, generating at 6.6 kV
The total installed generating capacity was 31 MW
Condenser cooling water was cooled in seven Davenport wood cooling towers with a capacity of 1.783 million gallons per hour (8,106 m$^3$/h).

## Operations
### Operating data 1921–23

The operating data for Stoke-on-Trent power station in the period 1921–23 was:
Stoke-on-Trent power station operating data 1921–23 :
| Electricity Use | Units | Year | Year | Year |
| Electricity Use | Units | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 |
| Lighting and domestic use | MWh | 2,139 | 2,157 | 2,582 |
| Public lighting use | MWh | 456 | 440 | 510 |
| Traction | MWh | 17 | 2 | 25 |
| Power use | MWh | 8,063 | 6,494 | 7,574 |
| Bulk supply | MWh | 130 | 96 | 169 |
| Total use | MWh | 10,806 | 9,189 | 10,880 |
| Load and connected load |||||
| Maximum load | kW | 6,185 | 5,969 | 6,740 |
| Total connections | kW | 16,664 | 17,444 | 19,384 |
| Load factor | Per cent | 28.2 | 25.5 | 25.7 |
| Financial |||||
| Revenue from sales of current | £ | – | 135,302 | 154,899 |
| Surplus of revenue over expenses | £ | – | 50,222 | 71,410 |
Under the terms of the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926 (16 & 17 Geo. 5 c. 51) the Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established in 1926. The CEB identified high efficiency ‘selected’ power stations that would supply electricity most effectively; Stoke-on-Trent was designated a selected station. The CEB also constructed the National Grid (1927–33) to connect power stations within a region. Stoke-on-Trent power station was operated under the direction of the CEB from 1934. The North West Midlands Joint Electricity Authority (JEA) assumed ownership of the Stoke and Stafford undertakings in 1928. The JEA generated electricity which was purchased by the Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford corporations and sold to industrial, commercial and domestic consumers. Operating data in the mid-1930s was:
Stoke-on-Trent power station operating data 1934–36 :
| Operating data | Year 1934–35 | Year 1935–36 |
| Plant capacity kW | 37,000 | 37,000 |
| Maximum demand kW | 27,600 | 32,000 |
| Load factor % | 37.62 | 44.79 |
| Units generated MWh | 90,946 | 125,905 |
| Units imported MWh | 1,869 | 339 |
| Units exported MWh | 4,140 | 17,508 |
Despite the growth of electricity consumption in the mid-1930s, there were still black spots where the availability of electricity was limited. In the city centre slums and outlying working class suburbs of towns such as Stoke-on-Trent more than a quarter of the streets had no electricity service available.

### Operating data 1946 & 1947

Stoke-on-Trent power station operating data for 1946 was:
Stoke-on-Trent (and Stafford) power station operating data in 1946 :
| Power station | Load factor per cent | Max output load MW | Electricity supplied MWh | Thermal efficiency per cent |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 21.1 | 27.6 | 50,970 | 13.62 |
| Stafford | – | 7.432 | 5,035 | – |
Stoke-on-Trent power station operating data for 1947 was:
Stoke-on-Trent power station 1947 :
| Maximum load, MW | 55,000 |
| Electricity purchased kWh | 14,197 |
| Electricity sold kWh | 207,472 |
| Revenue from sales £ | 890,316 |
| Number of consumers | 60,704 |
The British electricity supply industry was nationalised in 1948 under the provisions of the Electricity Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 54). The Stoke-on-Trent undertaking and the Joint Electricity Authority were abolished, ownership of Stoke-on-Trent power station was vested in the British Electricity Authority, and subsequently the Central Electricity Authority and the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB). At the same time the electricity distribution and sales responsibilities of the Stoke-on-Trent electricity undertaking were transferred to the Midlands Electricity Board (MEB).
Following nationalisation the Stoke-on-Trent area became a district electricity supply area; for commercial operation the area was split into three districts: Stoke central, Stoke north and Stoke south. The amount of electricity sold and number of customers was:
Electricity sold and No. of customers 1956–58 :
| District | District | Stoke Central | Stoke North | Stoke South |
| Area square miles | Area square miles | 7 | 10 | 16 |
| Population (1956) | Population (1956) | 70,800 | 77,600 | 123,300 |
| Electricity sold MWh | 1956 | 110,372 | 93,234 | 220,421 |
| Electricity sold MWh | 1957 | 120,131 | 98,655 | 242,939 |
| Electricity sold MWh | 1958 | 128,413 | 118,130 | 278,134 |
| No. of consumers | 1956 | 24,950 | 22,472 | 38,585 |
| No. of consumers | 1957 | 25,229 | 23,334 | 39,646 |
| No. of consumers | 1958 | 25,427 | 23,303 | 40,369 |

### Operating data 1954–63

Operating data for the period 1954–63 was:
Stoke-on-Trent power station operating data, 1954–63 :
| Year | Running hours or load factor (per cent) | Max output capacity MW | Electricity supplied GWh | Thermal efficiency per cent |
| 1954 | 2864 | 28 | 34.872 | 13.81 |
| 1955 | 2840 | 27 | 35.620 | 13.38 |
| 1956 | 2732 | 27 | 30.980 | 13.12 |
| 1957 | 2354 | 27 | 25.510 | 13.13 |
| 1958 | 644 | 27 | 5.021 | 9.67 |
| 1961 | (4.5%) | 23 | 9.129 | 12.14 |
| 1962 | (3.0 %) | 23 | 6.085 | 12.86 |
| 1963 | (5.21 %) | 23 | 10.498 | 12.93 |

## Closure

Hanley power station and Central Power House were decommissioned after 1964. The power station was demolished and the site was redeveloped as housing.
Longton was used as a 6.6kV substation following the removal of the generating equipment and the demolition of the chimney stack and outbuildings until the construction of the A50 called for its demolition in the 1990’s.
Stoke-on-Trent was later used as 132/33/11kV substation following some minor demolition of older outbuildings until a new substation was commissioned nearby alongside the A500 in 1998. The old site was decommissioned and has since lay empty.
Burslem was later demolished and the site repurposed as a 132/33/11kV substation which is still in use today.