History
The station was originally designed by the London County Council architects department, and built in two stages between 1902 and 1910, to provide power for the London Tram Network and London Underground which were being electrified at that time.
The station originally had a coal-fired boiler house and an engine room. This housed four compound reciprocating steam engines driving flywheel-type alternators with an output of 6,600 volts and 25 hertz. By 1910 the advantages of steam turbines were well known and four steam turbine alternators were installed in the second stage of the station's building programme. The reciprocating engines installed during first stage were replaced by steam turbines in 1922.
The two chimneys of stage one were 76 m (249 ft) high, but following objections from the nearby Royal Observatory, the stage two chimneys were reduced to only 55 m (180 ft).
The next major change to the station came in the mid-1960s when the steam turbines were replaced by Rolls Royce gas turbine generators, similar to those used in jet aircraft. These originally burned oil but were later converted to burn oil and gas. The generators are still housed in what was formerly the boiler house. They have a total capacity of 117.6 megawatts (MW), generated at 11,000 volts. This voltage can be increased to 22,000 volts for connection to the London Underground electricity system.
The station later became the backup station for Lots Road Power Station, which supplied the London Underground. However, Lots Road was decommissioned on 21 October 2002, whereas Greenwich has been refurbished, and is now powered by gas. Power for the London Underground now normally comes direct from the National Grid.
A New Statesman Arts Diary story on 7 July 2006 suggested the power station as a possible site for a Museum of the Performing Arts, incorporating some of the collection of the defunct Museum of the Moving Image as well as London's Museum of Performance.
Read more about this topic: Greenwich Power Station
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