Description and History of Site:-
Rotherham's first electricity power station was built by the Corporation in 1900 on a site between Rawmarsh Road and the River Don. A new station was built on the same site and formally opened by the then Prince of Wales on May 28th 1923 - hence its name. An electricity sub-station, transformer, switching and distribution facility still (2010) occupies part of the site between Rawmarsh Road and the Rotherham Cut (canal). The first power station, of 1901, had a capacity of 232 kW using four reciprocating steam engine generating sets, producing at 460 V on a three-wire DC distribution system. It was originally designed to satisfy the requirements of lighting and trams, some of the steam used came from the adjacent refuse destructor. In 1912 the station switched to three phase AC generation and distribution, and all the the generating sets were turbine driven. By then, the station's capacity had increased to about 2.485 MW.

In 1912 it was reported that the users (and percentages of the total) of the electricity supplied were Tramways (43%), Power (45%) and Lighting (12%).

By 1916, partly as a result of the intensive war-work and widespread introduction of electric furnaces in the Sheffield and Rotherham area, the station was at its maximum capacity of 15.5 MW and a new station was projected on the same site. This new station was in operation by 1920 and formally opened by the then Prince of Wales on May 28th 1923 with a capacity of 55 MW.

Between 1938 and 1950 further increases in capacity were obtained by the installation of turbo-generating equipment operating at a steam pressure of 600 psi (about 4 MPa) and 850 deg. F (about 450 deg. C). By 1953, when the plant was visited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the capacity was reported to be 130 MW, the supply being generated at 11 kV. At that time coal consumption averaged at about 10,000 tons per week. In 1963, the generating plant consisted of two 30 MW and one 25 MW sets by English Electric and two 30 MW sets by Metropolitan-Vickers for a total capacity of 185 Mega-Watts.

The station remained operational until 30 October 1978.

Further Reading and References:-
https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1953_Institution_of_Mechanical_Engineers:_Visits_to_Works
http://old-rotherham.esy.es/PowerStation.php
Electricity Supply Handbook 1963, The Electrical Times, London.

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Key Words :- electricity power generating coal steam

Address :- Rawmarsh Street, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S60 1RU
Grid Ref :- SK 42940 93449
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.436079 , Long -1.355109
Local Authority :- Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Site in alternative industrial use
Site Dates :- 1901 - 1978
Record Date :- 30 August 2017

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Nick Nelson