The Norwich power stations were a sequence of electricity generating stations that provided electric power to the City of Norwich and the wider area between 1893 and 1986. The first station in Duke Street began operating in 1893, a new power station at Thorpe was in service from 1926 to 1967, this was supplemented with a 'high pressure' station, 1937–1975, and finally a gas turbine station operated from 1964–1986.
History
Norwich was first lit by electric lighting in 1881. R.E. Crompton and Company lit the Market Place with two arc lights. Later that year the Norwich Fisheries Exhibition was lit with 9 arc lights and 60 incandescent lamps. The lighting system, at a cost of £400, was expanded across the city supplied from a generating station behind St. Andrew’s Hall on Elm Hill. This facility comprised a 20 horsepower (14.9 kW) twin cylinder steam engine driving six Crompton-Burgin dynamos. Four dynamos supplied a total of 20 arc lights in Haymarket, Market Place, Bank Plain, Post Office Plain, St. Andrew’s Hall, London Street and Prince of Wales Road as far as the railway station. Another of the dynamos supplied 50 incandescent lamps in the Free Library, the sixth dynamo was a spare. The system operated for about a year, but like many early electric lighting schemes in Britain, was uneconomic compared to gas lighting to which the city reverted in March 1883.
Duke Street Station
The local businessman Jeremiah Colman lit his Carrow Road mustard factory by electricity from about 1890, and began a public lighting supply in the local area. The Norwich Electricity Company Limited (sometimes referred to as the Norwich Electrical Supply Company or the Norwich Electric Light Company) was founded in 1890 and purchased land at Duke’s Wharf off Duke Street immediately south of, and adjoining, the River Wensum (52°37’54"N 1°17’34"E). The Company’s founding directors were G.F. Buxton, A.R Chamberlain, I.B. Coaks, R.J. Colman, Sir C.R. Gilman, and F.W. Harmer (Chairman). The Company raised a capital of £50,000 through the sale of £10 shares.
A power station was built to the designs of Edward Boardman and the electricity supply started on 3 August 1893. The station faced Duke Street with the boiler house adjacent to the river, there was a coal yard adjoining the river to the west of the site for the delivery of coal by barge. The power station initially comprised three 100 horsepower (74.6 kW) steam engines and dynamos generating 180 kW of direct current. Electricity was distributed through bare copper wires in sealed sanitary drain pipes. Industry was supplied with 220 V DC and domestic consumers 110 V DC. Among the industrial users were Norwich Electric Tramways that served the city from July 1900 until December 1935.
In 1897 the plant had a generating capacity of 850 kW and the maximum load was 750 kW. A total of 602.2 MWh of electricity was sold which powered 38,000 lamps, this provided an income to the company of £11,005-127.
As demand for electricity grew so further expansion took place: a new engine room and a boiler house were built in 1900 to house the new generators. By 1903 there were 13 machines ranging from 100 to 700 horsepower (74.7 to 522 kW); they were supplied with steam from Babcock and Wilcox coal-fired boilers.
The Norwich Corporation (Electricity & Co.) Act 1902 authorised the transfer of the electricity undertaking to the Norwich Corporation and an Electricity Committee was established to manage electricity supplies. The electricity undertaking was then known as the Norwich Corporation Electricity Works.
In 1912 mechanised boiler stokers were introduced and the steam engines began to be replaced with steam turbines of up to 1,000 horsepower (746 kW) driving 500 kW dynamos. In 1913 there were 1,750 electric street lights in use across the city, and a growing demand for electricity from industry. The growth of electricity supplies increased from 186,500 kWh in 1894, to 1,481,179 kWh (1902) and to 6,472,386 (1912).
In 1923 the AC generating plant comprised 1 × 3 MW and 1 × 5 MW turbo generators providing a 400 V and 230 V AC supply. The DC plant comprised 1 × 0.5 MW, 1 × 1 MW and 1 × 2 MW turbo generators plus 1 × 0.75 reciprocating generator providing a 220 V and 440 V DC supply. In 1923 a total of 14.513 MWh of electricity was sold raising a total revenue of £171,327 for Norwich Corporation.
By the mid 1920s the Duke Street site had reached the size limit for further expansion, the Corporation resolved to build a new power station at Thorpe on the southern outskirts of the city. The Duke Street site was redeveloped as stores and workshops for the company.