Cockle Creek Power Station was located in Teralba,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, on the banks of Cockle Creek. The power stationed operated from 11 March 1927 until March 1976.

Description

The Cockle Creek power station was built by Caledonian Collieries Limited between 1925 and 1927 to use low grade coal to provide power to Caledonian Collieries mines and the surrounding townships in both the

Lake Macquarie The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area (LGA) in the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city on 7 September 1984. It is adjacent to the city of Newcastle and is part of the Greater Newcastle area. The ...

and Cessnock areas. A weir at

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

along Cockle Creek was constructed to supply cooling water for the power station. The initial plant installed at the power station consisted of two

Brown Boveri Brown, Boveri & Cie. (Brown, Boveri & Company; BBC) was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies. It was founded in Baden bei Zürich, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oerlik ...

5 MW turbo alternators with two Babock & Wilcox cross type marine water tube boilers. The two water tube boilers ran at a steam pressure of with a capacity of of steam per hour each and were each fed by two Babock & Wilcox chain grate stokers. The power station building was constructed of brick except for one end wall which was clad in galvanised sheeting to allow for future expansion. By 1936 with an increase in load requiring extra steam generating plant, a third boiler was ordered. This boiler was also built by Babcock & Wilcox and was a single drum cross type water tube boiler and ran at a steam pressure of with a capacity of of steam per hour and was fed by a single chain grate stoker. By 1938 the load on the power station had increased to the stage where a third generator set was required. An order was placed with British-Thomson Houston for a 3.222 MW turbo alternator which was then numbered No.3 and was placed into service in March 1939. Due to a failure at the

Department of Railways New South Wales The Department of Railways New South Wales was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia between 1932 and 1972. Management The Department of Railways was under the control ...

power station at Zaara Street in Newcastle in July 1941 the Department of Railways constructed a transmission line to join with the overland transmission line to Cessnock to allow Cockle Creek to supply power to the Railway's transmission grid. With increased demand for power during the 1950s, a fourth boiler was ordered. This boiler was also built by Babcock & Wilcox and was a bi-drum radiant type water tube boiler and ran at a steam pressure of with a capacity of of steam per hour and was fed by a single Babcock "Detroit" Rotograte stocker. At its peak the power station had a capacity of 13.222 MW and provided electricity to 17 mines and to Teralba, Barnsley, Estelville,

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

, West Wallsend,

Killingworth Killingworth is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, within the historic county of Northumberland. Killingworth was built as a new town in the 1960s, next to Killingworth Village, which existed for centuries before the new town ...

and Cessnock. In May 1960 Caledonian Collieries amalgamated with

J & A Brown J & A Brown was a privately owned Australian coal family firm founded by James Brown (1816–1894) and Alexander Brown (1827–1877). Firm's Beginning at Four Mile Creek In 1843 James Brown leased eighty acres at Four Mile Creek, near Eas ...

and Abermain Seaham Collieries Ltd, with the new company being named Coal & Allied Industries Ltd. Soon afterwards a connection with the J & A Brown Richmond Main to Hexham transmission line was made to interconnect the output of the two power stations. The power station was closed in March 1976 and was soon demolished.

References

*Lake Macquarie Heritage Study 1993 * * {{Hunter Region places and items of interest Coal-fired power stations in New South Wales City of Lake Macquarie 1976 disestablishments in Australia 1927 establishments in Australia Decommissioned power stations in New South Wales Energy infrastructure completed in 1927

Description

See also

References