Rotherham Power Station
1901 The original Rotherham Corporation electricity works was opened; its main role was to power Rotherham’s tramways; generating capacity was about 200kw at 460 volts. [1]
1920 A new station was built on a site between Rawmarsh Road and the River Don, opposite the original works. The total installed capacity was 160 MW.
1920 The first machine was commissioned.
1923 Photo of power station here [2]
1924 'The most remarkable development of an electrical undertaking in this country is that effected at Rotherham by Mr. Edward Cross, electrical engineer to the corporation. When the war broke out the plant installed had a rated capacity of but 4.500 kw. Then, however, a rush of war orders came to the local factories, and an insistent demand for more power. This was met at the outset by installing two new units of 5,500 kw. each, thus more than trebling the original capacity of the station. This large addition, however, failed to satisfy the demand from the factories engaged on war work, and as a consequence a new station was constructed in which were erected two 12,500-kw. machines built for Melbourne by Messrs. C. A. Parsons and Co. In view of the impossibility of ensuring a safe delivery of these machines in Australia, and the pressing needs of Rotherham, these units were commandeered by the Government and installed as described. The demand continued to grow, however, and early in 1918 a contract was entered into, with the British Thomson-Houston Company, of Rugby, for the 30,000-kw. turbo-generator, of which we give illustrations ....
This machine is the largest yet constructed in this country, and one of the largest in the world to develop its power in a single casing. It was built at the company’s Rugby works and is of their multi-stage impulse type, the characteristic feature of which is the use of wheels of small diameter at the high-pressure end. This involves, of course, a greater number of stages than when the wheels are all of the same diameter, but the arrangement tends to keep down both the disc friction losses and the loss by leakage through the diaphragm packings, present case the total rotation losses are about 1 per cent, when the output is 25,000 kw., and a little less at maximum load......' [3][4]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ [1] Rotherham Advertiser
- ↑ [2] B.R.C. Structures: a Photographic Record of the Use of Reinforced Concrete in Modern Building Construction by The British Reinforced Concrete Engineering Co. Ltd., 1923
- ↑ Engineering 1924/01/18
- ↑ Engineering 1924/02/01