Timeline

	The information recorded below has been extracted from a document held at the Newton Abbot Museum to whom I am extremely grateful for their help and assistance. The document was published by the Borough of Torquay Electricity Undertaking and notes the official opening of Newton Abbot Power Station Extensions on 1st May 1929.

	The document covers the period 1898 and plans beyond 1929.

1898 Torquay	First supplies to Torquay were introduced in March 1898. The generating plant was placed in buildings that formed Beacon Quay on Torquay Harbour. The first generators were three reciprocating steam engine generator sets - probably 50 kw each with a combined capacity of 150 kw. They were Alternating Current (AC) 2000 volt single phase machines operating at 50 cycles. These were manufactured by Willans. (A notable name in heat engine theory!)

		The boiler plant by Babcock and Wilcox operated at 150 psi and 500 deg F was placed within the cellar areas of the Beacon Quay buildings. As the demand increased any space was taken up with additional generating capacity ultimately reaching the limit of the boiler capacity that could be installed. Thus around 1920 the Borough Engineer concluded that a new site was needed and finally settled on the area currently being operated by the Urban Electric Supply Co. Ltd. at Newton Abbot. At this stage Beacon Quay was equipped with a 500 kw generating set and two 1250 kw BTH turbo alternators - a capacity of 3000 kw. The maximum boiler capacity was however 1500 kw limiting output somewhat. There was clearly a continuous up rating of plant throughout this period.


1924 Torquay	The demand in Torquay was mainly lighting and tramway systems. The Tramway was most probably DC but no reference is made to convertors in the document. Beacon Quay was shut down on 24th July 1924 (site demolished in 1961) when AC supplies became available from Newton Abbot. It is interesting to note that prior to 1923 supply cables lay in the gutters! The initial connection from Newton Abbot to Torquay (Upton Vale) was established in 1924 being two 11000 Volt circuits with a number of step down transformers connected. An original building on the route stands beside the A380 in the centre of the Kingskerswell village dated 1924. The 1250 kw generators were transferred to Newton Abbot and were located where the three 40 kw DC generator sets were originally located. Steam conditions were very similar.

1898 Newton Abbot	Supplies to Newton Abbot were Direct Current (DC) being mainly used for industrial loads. Based on the photograph below the original plant was most probably three 40kw steam driven generator sets giving a combined capacity of 120 kw. Later two 200 kw DC generators were added bringing the capacity to 520 kw before 1920. The picture below shows the plant installed in 1924.

1923	Through a series of Acts and consideration by the Electricity Commissioners the ownership of the site at Newton Abbot transferred from the Urban Electricity Supply Co. Ltd to the Urban District of Newton Abbot and then onwards to the Borough of Torquay on 1st May 1923.

1923	During the period 1920 to 1923 much design work had been completed by the Torquay Borough Engineer and contracts were in place to commence work almost immediately on completion of the transfer to the Borough of Torquay. Due to extensive flooding and bad weather conditions work on the River side No 1 Pump House did not commence until May 1924.

1923/24		Between May 1924 and July 1924 Generator 3 was brought on line supplying up to 3750 kw AC. The picture (taken in 1924) appears to show the first of the 200 kw generators in the process of decommissioning. The generating set in the foreground ( Belliss and Morcom 200 kw 500 volt DC) remained in situ until the station decommissioned during the 1970's. Rotary Convertor plant was commissioned to maintain DC supplies for Newton Abbot and located where the decommissioning generator is located. By September 1924 the station capacity was 6250 kw with generators Nos 1 and 2 having been transferred from Beacon Quay, Torquay and connected to the new 'cellular' switch board via 2000/11000 volt transformers. They were situated where the original three 40kw generators were located at the distant end of the picture.

1926	During this period generator No 4 (3750 kw) was added and the station capacity increased to 10,000 kw

1929	The first phase development of the station continued with the addition of generator No 5 (7500 kw) with boilers 9 and 10 taking the capacity to 17,500 kw. It was at this point that 'Official Opening of Newton Abbot Power Station Extensions' occured. The GenCap page shows the whole capacity sequence over time. A second River side pump house was added to cater for the 'planned' developments.

1931			In 1931 generator 6 (7500kw) was commissioned with boilers 11 and 12 but to commission this generator a new 11 kv switchboard was required and to release space the original generators 1 and 2 were decommissioned. The original switchgear being unable to meet the fault ratings the 11 kv switch boards were connected by 10 MVA air cooled reactors and generator 5 moved to this switch board. A Civic Visit occurred to mark the completion of this phase.

1934 Grid System arrival	A single circuit interconnection rated at 50 MW was established at 132,000 volts between Exeter, Newton Abbot, Plymouth and Fraddon terminating at Hayle in Cornwall. This was the first implementation of the now standardised power system providing interconnection across South Wales to Reading and the South from Brighton to the tip of Cornwall. System Operation was centered on Oakfield Grove in Clifton, Bristol with an emergency control being located in the cellar of a house in Keynsham - Durley Park. This became the Grid Control Centre in 1954 until its close in 1995. Operation of the National Grid with all regions interconnected occurred unofficially in 1937 by an adventurous group of night shift control engineers!

1941	Development continued with the build of Generator 7 with boilers 13 and 14. At the same time a cooling tower was constructed to cope with the cooling requirements of generator 7 and the future turbo-alternator no 8. The cooling tower serving Generators 7 required 'river water make up' whilst the MP and LP generators re-circulated all cooling water to the River.

1948	Saw the final commissioning of Generator 8 and boilers 15 and 16. The station was now at what was to be its final capacity of 48.5 MWSO (Mega Watts Sent Out) and an installed capacity of 52.5 MWI. Whilst I have no information on the operation during the winter of 1947 it is probable that it was similar to the 1962/3 winter

1959	The original low pressure boilers constructed during 1924/26 were decommissioned and removed. This reduced the station overall capacity by a small amount due to the length of the High/Low steam pressure reducing range and resulting terminal steam conditions. Generators 3 and 4 each being re-rated from 3750 kw to 3500 kw. The area occupied by these boilers was converted into a self contained Civil Defence shelter not visible to the outside world!

1962/1963	This period saw one of the most testing periods for the station with the very severe winter before the Supergrid (275 kv) System was extended and before generating plant margins had been improved to cover all eventualities. The station operated at its installed and maximum capacity for extended periods and also at emergency levels for a number of limited periods. Regular demand reduction and load disconnections occurred to maintain the overall power supply system. For a number of periods the output from the 52 MW of plant installed exceeded 62 MW whilst emergency generation was instructed. Bearing in mind the age of the plant this was some achievement.

1964	Nationally new generating plant started coming on line rapidly and the requirement for the older inefficient plant reduced to the 'winter peak' demand periods or demand security considerations. The station spent extended periods in 'cold shut down'. This marked the beginning of the end although draft plans did exist to replace the station with 'modern' gas turbine generation. This obviously never happened and the site was fully closed and demolished in the mid 1970's.