Rye House Generating Station

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Rye House Generating Station

Feb 21st, 2010 // No Comment

The old Rye House Generating Station was officially opened on July 22nd 1954 by the Hon. David Bowes-Lyon, Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire.

The Station was designed and engineered by the North Metropolitan Power Station Company Ltd, with Sir Giles Gilbert Scott advising upon the architectural design.

Under the Electricity Act, 1947, the Station became the responsibility of the Eastern Division of the British Electricity Authority. Work on the site started in 1947 and the generation of electricity was commenced in December 1951.

BUILDINGS
The image below shows the main entrance and part of the front elevation of the Administrative Block with the chimney in the background, and indicates some of the interesting features of the brickwork. The height of the chimney was 260 feet above ground level. Electrostatic Precipitators were installed to prevent dust emission from the chimney.

The main entrance and Administrative Block

COAL HANDLING PLANT
The coal handling plant could handle 200 tons per hour from railway wagons. The view below is of the storage ground and equipment; the inset is of the railway wagon tippler in operation. Band conveyors located out of sight underground transported the coal between the tippler, the station and the coal store, without dust entering the atmosphere.

Coal Handling Plant and Wagon Tippler

COOLING TOWERS
The water circulating through the steam turbine condensers was cooled in towers 165 feet both in height and diameter at the base. The towers were contructed in reinforced concrete. The illustration below shows the internal water spray’s of a tower in operation.

Cooling Towers and internal water sprays of a tower in operation

BOILER OPERATING FLOOR
The boiler house contained four Babcock & Wilcox boilers arranged in line, each boiler having a maximum continuous rating of 350,000 pounds of steam per hour at a pressure of 650 pounds per square inch, and a total temperature of 875 degrees Fahrenheit. The control panel of one of the boilers is shown in the foreground of the picture.

Boiler Operating Floor

TURBO-GENERATOR PLANT
Each of the four Richardsons Westgarth steam turbines drove a Parsons 30,000 kilowatt main generator and a 2,000 kilowatt generator for station supplies. The photograph is of number 1 and 2 generating sets and with numbers 3 and 4 under construction.

Turbo-Generator Plant

STATION CONTROL
The picture below shows the station control room and one of the generating sets. These machines ran at a speed of 3,000 revolutions per minute.

Station Control and one of the generating sets

MAIN SWITCHGEAR
Electricity was generated at 33,000 volts and the station output was controlled by switchgear of the outdoor type illustrated below. One of the circulating water cooling towers is in the background. This switchgear also controlled four 45,000 kVA transformers , one of which is shown in the small picture. These transformers stepped the voltage up to 132,000 for transmission over the National Grid.

Main Switchgear

PULVERIZING MILLS
Coal was burned after being pulverized in the mills illustrated below. There were four of these mills for each boiler and in addition there were two small mills per boiler for lighting up purposes.

Pulverizing Mills

LABORATORY
Coal, water and oils were subject to regular analysis in the laboratory pictured below, where metallurgical and biological problems arising during the operation of the generatoring plant are investigated.