Fulham Power Station

:"Often confused with Lots Road Power Station."

Infobox UK power station
os_grid_reference=TQ262761
latitude=51.469727
longitude=-0.1832
country=England
region=London
metropolitan_county=Greater London
operator=CEGB
fuel=Coal-fired
fuel_capacity=310MW
opened=1901
closed=1978

Fulham Power Station was a coal-fired power station on the north bank of the River Thames at Battersea Reach in Fulham, London, not to be confused with Lots Road Power Station, a mile or so downstream.

History

The original power station was built around 1901 by Fulham Borough Council. A second, 'B' station opened in 1936, occupying a 124 acre (50 hectare) site with a river frontage of 1,300 feet (396m). This was designed to have a capacity of 310 megawatts (MW), the largest of any municipally-owned station in the UK. [Parker, W. & Clarke, H., [http://jisc.iceknowledge.com/ArticleView.aspx?doi=14616 Fulham base-load Power Station: Mechanical and electrical considerations] , "Journal of the ICE", 9/7, pp17–66, June 1938.] It was designed by G.E.Baker and Preece, Cardew and Rider and had a convert|120|yd|sing=on coaling jetty. [Weinreb, Ben & Hibbert, Christopher, "The London Encyclopedia", Macmillan, London, 1983. ISBN 0-333-30024-6.] Fulham was one of the first statons to be fitted with desulphurisation equipment. [Hay, et al., [http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/ArticleView.aspx?doi=14617 Discussion. Constructional work of the Fulham Power-Station. Fulham Base-Load Power-Station: Mechanical and electrical considerations] , "Journal of the ICE", 9/7, pp67–94, June 1938.] This was operated on 120MW of capacity between 1936 and 1940, but later removed. [DTI, [http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file20875.pdf Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) Technologies for Coal-Fired Combustion Plant] , 2003.] The station was damaged by bombing in September 1940 during The Second World War.

The operating of the station was taken over by the London Electricity Board in 1947, and then by the CEGB in the late 1950s after nationalisation. The power station was decommissioned in 1978 and partially demolished for redevelopment in the 1980s. The retained buildings were later converted into a 20,000 m² storage facility.

Confusion with Lots Road Power Station

There is some confusion in historical references between the Fulham and Lots Road stations. The two can be readily distinguished in photographs because Fulham had four concrete chimneys (similar to those of nearby Battersea Power Station, but in line), whilst Lots Road had four (later two) brick chimneys at its corners.

References