Barking Power Station

Barking Power Station refers to a series of power stations at various sites within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in east London. The original power station site, of the coal-fired A, B and C stations, was at River Road, Creekmouth, on the north bank of the River Thames. These stations were decommissioned by 1981 and were subsequently demolished. The later gas-fired power station was built further down the Thames near Dagenham Dock in the early 1990s. The site of the former power stations is being redeveloped as Barking Riverside.

Prior to the construction of Barking A Power Station, Barking Town Urban District Council operated its own small power station near its offices from 1897 until its closure in 1927. In 1920, the County of London Electric Supply Company applied for permission to build a power station at Creekmouth in Barking capable of expansion to 600 MW. The Barking A Station had 8 C. A. Parsons turbo-generators and 22 boilers, plus 2 dedicated reheat boilers. The two 40 MW sets were cross-compound units and one was the first Parsons set with reheat. These were in two boiler houses, one being all chain grate boilers and the other being all pulverised fuel boilers . The maximum steam capacity of the A station boilers was 1,900,000 lb/hr . Steam pressure and temperature at the turbine stop valves was 350 psi and 371°C. Barking Power Station was opened by King George V on 19 May 1925 and was brought into commercial operation on 1 January 1926. In 1927 it took over from the Barking Town Urban District Council station, providing a bulk electricity supply. When completed, the A station was the largest power station in Britain to have been built as a complete station at one time. The Yarrow boilers were scrapped in the early 1950s, their capacity being replaced by steam from the B station via a steam line and suitable regulating equipment. The pulverised fuel boilers were converted to oil firing around 1964. By 1964 there were 3 × 40 MW and 1 × 36.75 MW generators. One of the 40 MW machines was decommissioned in 1966. The A station was decommissioned in 1969.

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