Padiham Power Station was a

coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...

Padiham Padiham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Calder, Lancashire, River Calder, in the Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, Lancashire, England. It is located north west of Burnley, and north ea ...

, east

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England, which began operation in 1926 and generated power from 1927 until it was closed in 1993. Padiham 1948 Old OS map - central part

Location

The plant was located on the north bank of the River Calder just west of the town. It was also known as Hapton or Simonstone Power Station being close to all of the villages. Since the station closed, the site has been used for a modern business park, ''Shuttleworth Mead''.

History

Padiham A

The Lancashire Electric Power Company's proposal to build a

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

-fired plant at Padiham (known as Padiham 'A') was approved in 1924 for a 12,000 kW station. By March 1925 two 6,000 kW alternator sets had been ordered, the sidings for delivery of coal by rail completed and work commenced on foundations. It was the second of three stations built by the company. The

Electricity (Supply) Act 1926 The Electricity (Supply) Act 1926 ( 16 & 17 Geo. 5. c. 51) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the law on the supply of electricity. Its long title is: ‘An Act to amend the law with respect to the supply of electric ...

( 16 & 17 Geo. 5. c. 51) established the

Central Electricity Board The United Kingdom Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established by the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926. It had the duty to supply electricity to authorised electricity undertakers, to determine which power stations would be 'selected' stations ...

to control the best and most efficient stations and set up a grid, standardise frequencies, supply local authorities and supply rural districts. The Padiham buildings had been roofed, alternators tested, installation begun, boilers erected, a

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

across the River Calder completed, two cooling towers and the coal and ash plant nearly complete. Test were underway by July and on 24 January 1927 the plant was brought into regular use. An 11,000 volt line had been installed to the power stations at

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

and Radcliffe. A further 12,500 kW alternator was ordered and eventually installed by 1929. The two

British Thomson-Houston British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industry, heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Originally founded to sell products from the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, it soon became a manufac ...

sets were later rated at 7,500 and 15,625 kW. The turbines were supplied with steam from six 35,000 lb/hr and two 56,000 lb/hr boilers operating at 250 psi and 650 °F. By 1940 Padiham was supplying loads at Padiham (7,600 kW),

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

and

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. The town is northeast of Nelson, Lancashire, Nelson, northeast of Burnley and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The ...

(20,500 kW) and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

(20,500 kW). Two more 12,500 kW alternators were ordered. 70 million units per year at 20% load factor were being generated and in 1942/3 two more boilers were being installed. The

Electricity Act 1947 The Electricity Act 1947 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 54) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which nationalised, or bought into state control, the electricity supply industry in Great Britain. It established a central authority called t ...

nationalise Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

d the electricity industry and set up the

British Electricity Authority The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established as the central British electricity authority in 1948 under the nationalisation of Great Britain's electricity supply industry enacted by the Electricity Act 1947. The BEA was responsible for ...

(BEA), which became the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in 1955, controlled by the Minister of Fuel and Power. The Authority took over electricity generating function of the Lancashire Electric Power (LEP) Company and promoted efficient generation, transmission and distribution and cheaper prices in rural areas. It also standardised the system and electrical fittings and had 11 divisions and 12 area boards. Padiham power station was vested in the BEA and the LEP's electricity distribution and sales functions were taken over by the North Western Electricity Board (NWEB). The CEA was in turn dissolved by the Electricity Act 1957 and replaced by the

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...

(CEGB) and the

Electricity Council The Electricity Council was a governmental body set up in 1958 to oversee the electricity supply industry in England and Wales. The council was established on 1 January 1958 to assume the coordinating and policy-making functions of the Central El ...

. The generating capacity and output from Padiham A is given in the following table.CEGB ''Annual report and Accounts'', 1961, 1962 & 1963 Padiham A power station closed in 1969.

Padiham B

In 1957 a 240MW station, Padiham "B", was authorised with the first

unit of 120MW commissioned in 1962. There were two

Babcock & Wilcox Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. is an American energy technology and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Historically, the company is best known for their stea ...

boilers rated at 108 kg/s, steam conditions were 103.42 bar at 538 °C, with reheat to 538 °C. Padiham B was one of the CEGB’s twenty steam power stations with the highest

thermal efficiency In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency (\eta_) is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, steam turbine, steam engine, boiler, furnace, refrigerator, ACs etc. For ...

; in 1963–4 the thermal efficiency was 32.36 per cent, 32.91 per cent in 1964–5, and 33.27 per cent in 1965–6. The annual electricity output of Padiham B was: In 1964 a Padiham "C" was proposed but not built. Padiham "A" closed in 1969. In 1971 some oil firing and

orimulsion Orimulsion is a registered trademark name for a bitumen-based fuel that was developed for industrial use by Intevep, the Research and Development Affiliate of Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), following earlier collaboration on oil emulsions wit ...

was proposed at one stage but it seems only coal and petrocoke were ever used. By 1984 the station was generating 15 million MW hours. In 1993 the last load of coal was delivered and Padiham "B" ceased generation on 31 March.Picture of the remains of Padiham B taken in 2006
/ref> The power station is also notable for being used in a minor capacity during the filming of science fiction comedy series

Red Dwarf A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...

in the 1990s

Redevelopment

Although the rail line had closed for passengers connecting Padiham railway station to Burnley and

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

in 1957, the section to the power station was retained for coal deliveries. Part of it was under consideration by

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashire is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Blackburn with Dar ...

as a rural walk in 2008. The weir constructed to provide cooling water for the plant was also under consideration for partial removal to provide a canoe slalom and aid fish,

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

and

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

, trying to reach the upper part of the river. The

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

believes that the quality of the Calder is now of a standard that can support these fish. The project is a joint fish pass and canoe run. Fish movement upstream will open up opportunities for course and game fishing in the rural areas up stream. The works to remove the derelict weir will see the final stage of the reclamation of the former power station and the work is complementary to the county’s developing land reclamation programme.

References