Thanet power station, also known as St. Peter's power station, supplied electricity to the towns of

Broadstairs Broadstairs () is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's, and had a population in 2011 ...

and

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

and other locations on the

Isle of Thanet The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island. Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in a ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England from 1901 to 1964. The station was owned and operated by the Isle of Thanet Electric Supply Company Limited until the

nationalisation 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 ...

of the British electricity supply industry in 1948. The

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 ...

had an ultimate electricity generating capacity of 6 MW.

History

The Isle of Thanet Electric Tramways and Lighting Company Limited applied for a provisional order under the Electric Lighting Acts to generate and supply electricity for the tram system and to the local area. The was granted by the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

and was confirmed by Parliament through the Electric Lighting Orders Confirmation (No. 7) Act 1901 ( 1 Edw. 7. c. clxxiv). The company built the power station in St. Peter's adjacent to the

South Eastern and Chatham Railway The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eas ...

()Ordnance Survey 6-inch England Kent XXVI.SW (includes: Broadstairs and St Peters.), revised 1905, published 1908 and in conjunction with the tramway depot. From the inauguration of the Isle of Thanet Electric Tramways on 4 April 1901 the power station supplied electric current to the tram system. The trams were decommissioned on 27 March 1937, but the power station continued in operation supplying the area with electric current. New plant was installed and the output of the power station was uprated to meet the increased demand over the period 1914 to 1926. In 1924 the Isle of Thanet Electric Tramways and Lighting Company Limited changed its name to Isle of Thanet Electric Supply Company Limited. This better reflected the scope of its operations. The British electricity supply industry was

nationalised 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 ...

in 1948 under the provisions of 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 ...

( 10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 54). The Isle of Thanet electricity undertaking was abolished, ownership of the power station was vested in 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 ...

, and subsequently the

Central Electricity Authority The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) was a body that managed and operated the electricity supply industry in England and Wales between 1 April 1955 and 31 December 1957. The CEA replaced the earlier British Electricity Authority (BEA) as a res ...

and 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). At the same time the electricity distribution and sales responsibilities of the Isle of Thanet electricity undertaking were transferred to the South Eastern Electricity Board (SEEBOARD). Thanet power station was decommissioned in 1964; superseded by 336 MW Richborough power station initially commissioned in 1962–3. This itself closed in 1996 and the site cleared by 2016.

Equipment specification

Plant in 1923

By 1923 the generating plant comprised: * Coal-fired boilers generating up to 50,000 lb/h (6.3 kg/s) of steam which was supplied to: * Generators: ** 1 × 300 kW steam

reciprocating engine A reciprocating engine, more often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common features of al ...

AC ** 1 × 500 kW steam reciprocating engine AC ** 1 × 1,000 kW steam turbo-alternator AC ** 1 × 2,000 kW steam turbo-alternators AC ** 2 × 200 kW steam reciprocating engines DC These machines gave a total generating capacity of 4,200 kW, comprising 3,800 kW of

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in w ...

and 400 kW of

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional electric current, flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor (material), conductor such as a wire, but can also flow throug ...

. Electricity supplies available to consumers: * DC at 480 and 240 Volts Coal was delivered to the power station by a siding off the adjacent railway line.

Plant in 1954

By 1954 the plant comprised: * Boilers ** 1 × 40,000 lb/h (5.0 kg/s) John Thompson chain grate boiler, steam conditions were 180

psi Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to: Alphabetic letters * Psi (Greek) (Ψ or ψ), the twenty-third letter of the Greek alphabet * Psi (Cyrillic), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek Arts and entertainment * "Psi" as an abbreviat ...

and 530 °F (12.4 bar and 277 °C) ** 1 × 30,000 lb/h (3.78 kg/s) John Thompson chain grate boiler, steam conditions were 220 psi and 546 °F (15.2 bar and 286 °C), these supplied steam to: * Generators ** 1 × 1.0 MW

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 ...

turbo-alternator ** 1 × 2.0 MW British Thomson-Houston turbo-alternator ** 1 × 3.0 MW British Thomson-Houston turbo-alternator Cooling of the condensers was by two Davenport cooling towers with a total water circulation of 448,000 gallons per hour (0.566 m³/s).

Operations

Operating data 1921–23

The electricity supply data for the period 1921–23 was: Electricity Loads on the system were: Revenue from the sale of current (in 1923) was £38,214; the surplus of revenue over expenses was £19,401.

Operating data 1946

In 1946 Thanet power station supplied 1,395 MWh of electricity; the maximum output load was 2,945 kW.

Operating data 1954–63

Operating data for the period 1954–63 was:CEGB ''Annual Report'' 1961, 1962, 1963

References

{{reflist Coal-fired power stations in England Demolished power stations in the United Kingdom Former power stations in England Thanet