Blaydon Burn Power Station
Encyclopedia
The power station was constructed in 1904 to utilise waste heat produced by the coke ovens. The heat was piped from the coke ovens to under four land-type Babcock and Wilcox
boilers, each with 500 HP capacity. The boilers supplied steam for two 275 kilowatt
(kW) Parsons
three phase turbo alternators
. At the time of opening, this generating equipment was of the latest and best design. The alternators produced a current of 6,000 volts. The electricity generated by the station was initially used as a power supply for the coal mine, but the Priestman Power Company was bought by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Electric Supply Company
in 1914, meaning the electricity was also used to power the rest of the county, using the County Durham distribution system.
Feed water for the boilers was taken from the Blaydon Burn, upon which the station was built. However, there wasn't a sufficient amount of water available for condensing purposes as well, and so the condensing water needed to be used over and over again. This necessitated the construction of a cooling tower
and reservoir.
The station's boiler house and turbine hall were of a steel frame
d construction, with corrugated iron cladding. The advantage of this type of construction is that if the coke ovens were to be abandoned, the station could be deconstructed and re-erected somewhere else at a minimal cost.
In 1916, the station's generating equipment was replaced by a 3,000 kW Parsons generating set. This was the first generating set in the world to use reheated steam between stages in its turbines, and to progressively heat feed-water using partially expanded steam. In 1919 the station was further modified, becoming the first station in the world to use an enclosed ventilating circuit for the alternator with a gilled-tube cooler for extracting the heat from the ventilating air, which overcame problems caused by dust and moisture getting into the windings. When the UK's national grid distribution system was brought into use in 1932, the station was one of a small number of stations in the region to be converted from the 40 hertz
(Hz) frequency used by the North Eastern grid system to the 50 Hz frequency used by the national system. The station ceased operating in 1959. Reclaimation of the coke works began in the 1970s and the area has now been returned to grassland. An electrical substation
still stands near the site.
Babcock and Wilcox
The Babcock & Wilcox Company is a U.S.-based company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and facilities management services to nuclear, renewable, fossil power, industrial and government customers worldwide. B&W's boilers supply more than 300,000 megawatts of installed...
boilers, each with 500 HP capacity. The boilers supplied steam for two 275 kilowatt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
(kW) Parsons
C. A. Parsons and Company
C. A. Parsons and Company was a British engineering firm which was once one of the largest employers on Tyneside.-History:The Company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1889 to produce turbo-generators, his own invention. At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the company was producing...
three phase turbo alternators
Alternator
An alternator is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current.Most alternators use a rotating magnetic field but linear alternators are occasionally used...
. At the time of opening, this generating equipment was of the latest and best design. The alternators produced a current of 6,000 volts. The electricity generated by the station was initially used as a power supply for the coal mine, but the Priestman Power Company was bought by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Electric Supply Company
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Electric Supply Company
The North Eastern Electric Supply Company was responsible for the supply of electricity to a large amount of North East England, prior to the nationalisation of the British electricity industry with the Electricity Act 1947...
in 1914, meaning the electricity was also used to power the rest of the county, using the County Durham distribution system.
Feed water for the boilers was taken from the Blaydon Burn, upon which the station was built. However, there wasn't a sufficient amount of water available for condensing purposes as well, and so the condensing water needed to be used over and over again. This necessitated the construction of a cooling tower
Cooling tower
Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers rely...
and reservoir.
The station's boiler house and turbine hall were of a steel frame
Steel frame
Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal -beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame...
d construction, with corrugated iron cladding. The advantage of this type of construction is that if the coke ovens were to be abandoned, the station could be deconstructed and re-erected somewhere else at a minimal cost.
In 1916, the station's generating equipment was replaced by a 3,000 kW Parsons generating set. This was the first generating set in the world to use reheated steam between stages in its turbines, and to progressively heat feed-water using partially expanded steam. In 1919 the station was further modified, becoming the first station in the world to use an enclosed ventilating circuit for the alternator with a gilled-tube cooler for extracting the heat from the ventilating air, which overcame problems caused by dust and moisture getting into the windings. When the UK's national grid distribution system was brought into use in 1932, the station was one of a small number of stations in the region to be converted from the 40 hertz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
(Hz) frequency used by the North Eastern grid system to the 50 Hz frequency used by the national system. The station ceased operating in 1959. Reclaimation of the coke works began in the 1970s and the area has now been returned to grassland. An electrical substation
Electrical substation
A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions...
still stands near the site.