Balmain Power Station

The Balmain Power Station was located at Iron Cove, from Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The station no longer exists and residential properties now occupy the site. This plant is often confused with the White Bay Power Station, the remains of which are still standing in Rozelle.HistoryIn 1903, the Public Health Department directed Balmain Council to find alternatives to the open tip dumping of local rubbish. The council invited tenders for a combined garbage destructor and power plant and on 30 September 1909, the newly constructed power station 'A' commenced operation. Power came from 2 Bellis + Morcom high speed engines coupled to 5000 volt BTH generators. The output was 500KW from one machine and 250KW from the other. Steam came from 2 Babcox and Wilcox chain grate coal fired boilers plus the destructor boiler. In 1913 2 Willans + Robinson 900KW turbo generators were added. These were further accompanied by a Curtis-BTH 2.5 MW turbine(No1) in 1914. A Curtis-BTH 3MW machine(No2) was added in 1922. A 7.5MW Fraser-Chalmers machine was added in 1923. Steam came from additional Babcox and Wilcox chain grate boilers. This brought "A" Station capacity to 15MW. In 1928 a 10MW Curtis - BTH machine(No3) was installed and in 1935 a 18.75MW AEG turbine(No4) was added bringing total capacity to 41MW. A second phase of construction took place between 1940 and 1950. A9.4MW English Electric back pressure turbine(No5) was added. Instead of the exhaust steam going to a condenser it was sent to the "A" Station lower pressure turbines. 1952 saw the addition of a 25MWParsons steam turbine(No6) in what became known as station 'B'. Two more Parsons 25MW machines(No7+No8) were added by 1956. Steam was supplied by 4 high pressure Babcox and Wilcox pulverized coal boilers. This doubled the generation capacity of the plant, bringing it to 126.2MW.

Category:
Landmark