page_title: Balmain Power Station
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Balmain Power Station / History
caption_attribution_description: Balmain Power Station, New South Wales
context_page_description: The Balmain Power Station was located at Iron Cove, 4 km from Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The station no longer exists and residential properties now occupy the site. This plant is often confused with the White Bay Power Station, the remains of which are still standing in Rozelle.
context_section_description: In 1903, the Public Health Department directed Balmain Council to find alternatives to the open tip dumping of local rubbish. The council invited tenders for a combined garbage destructor and power plant and on 30 September 1909, the newly constructed power station 'A' commenced operation. Power came from 2 Belliss and Morcom high-speed engines coupled to 5000-volt BTH generators. The output was 500 kW from one machine and 250 kW from the other. Steam came from two Babcox and Wilcox chain grate coal-fired boilers plus the destructor boiler. In 1913 two Willans & Robinson 900 kW turbo generators were added. These were further accompanied by a Curtis-BTH 2.5 MW turbine (No1) in 1914. A Curtis-BTH 3 MW machine (No2) was added in 1922. A 7.5 MW Fraser & Chalmers machine was added in 1923. Steam came from additional Babcox and Wilcox chain grate boilers. This brought "A" Station capacity to 15 MW. In 1928 a 10 MW Curtis - BTH machine (No3) was installed, and in 1935 an 18.75 MW AEG turbine (No4) was added, bringing total capacity to 41 MW. In 1947 and 1953 the first two Babcock+ Wilcox boilers were transferred to Muswellbrook power station.
  'B' Station:- A second phase of construction took place between 1940 and 1950. A 9.4 MW English Electric back pressure turbine (No5) was installed. This was a high-pressure turbine that sent its exhaust steam to the "A" Station lower-pressure turbines. 1952 saw the addition of a 25 MW Parsons steam turbine (No6). Two more Parsons 25 MW machines (No7 and No8) were added by 1956. Steam for machines 5–8 was supplied by four high-pressure Babcox and Wilcox pulverized coal boilers. This doubled the generation capacity of the plant, bringing it to 126.2 MW.
  The original station was a private facility, owned by the Electric Light and Power Supply Corporation (EL&PSC), which supplied electricity to consumers and businesses in Balmain, Leichhardt, Ashfield, Newtown and Petersham. It also supplied power to large enterprises in the local area including Mort's Dock and the Balmain Colliery.
  The Balmain Electric Light Company Purchase Act 1950 (NSW) enabled the acquisition of the plant by the Electricity Commission of New South Wales. A legal dispute over the valuation of the power station then ensued which delayed the sale until January 1957 when the plant changed hands for £600,000. The plant continued to supply power until 1976 when it was decommissioned.
caption: The pump house, built in 1934.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-P100", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2006:03:18 14:38:32", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "258", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Make": "SONY", "Thumbnail Model": "DSC-P100", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail DateTime": "2006:03:18 14:38:32", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2486", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "13893", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:03:18 14:38:32", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:03:18 14:38:32", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "79/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1728", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2278", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}