The Lancashire Electric Power Company
- The Lancashire Electric Power Company
This was one of the largest private electricity companies in the UK. It was established by Act of Parliament in 1900.
Its original power station was the Radcliffe Power Station which was opened by the Earl of Derby on 9th October 1905. This had to 1,500 kW turbo sets manufactured by British Thomson-Houston, generated at 10 kV (the first power station in the UK to transmit by bare electric conductors at 10kV).
The first customer was the Acme Spinning Company in Pendlebury which with 75,000 spindles was the first cotton spinning mill in Lancashire to be designed for powering by electricity.
The plant was soon duplicated with six boilers feeding four 1,500 kW sets. The equipment was so simple that the whole power station could be operated by a shift of six or seven men.
It reached full capacity in December 1922 with ten sets giving 42,375 kW.
A second power station at Padiham opened in 1926 with a capacity of 30,625 kW and a third at Kearsley in November 1929 with eventually two 32,000 kW and two 51,600 kW sets. Kearsley was able to burn waste material from local factories.
The company was nationalised in 1948 into the North Western Electricity Board (NWEB) when the total capacity was 284,750 kW.
Radcliffe Power Station closed in 1959, Kearsley in 1981. Padiham was replaced by a new power station on an adjacent site in the late 1950s.
The company pioneered accurate metering with its own Meter and Testing Department in Walkden.
References
* "Electricity in Manchester", Roy Frost, Neil Richardson 1993 ISBN 1852160756
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
List of pre-nationalisation UK electric power companies — The electrical power industry in the United Kingdom was nationalised by the Electricity Act 1947, when over 600 electric power companies were merged into twelve Area Boards.List of companiesCompanies merged into East Midlands Electricity Board… … Wikipedia
Kearsley Power Station — was a coal fired power station in Stoneclough, near Kearsley, Greater Manchester, England. It was designed in 1927 by Mr H.F.Parshall for the The Lancashire Electric Power Companycite web | url = http://www.swehs.co.uk/docs/news30su.html | title … Wikipedia
Radcliffe Power Station — was a coal fired power station in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, England. It was opened by the Earl of Derby on 9th October 1905cite book | date = February 19th 1922 | title = Lancashire Electric Light and Power | publisher = The Times newspaper … Wikipedia
Chadderton Power Station — Chadderton A B power stations Chadderton B Power Station shortly before demolition in 1986 … Wikipedia
Electric Railway Museum — Coventry Railway Centre The Electric Railway Museum (Formerly Coventry Railway Centre) is located in Warwickshire, south of Coventry city, outside Baginton, and near to Coventry Airport. The heritage railway centre was also known as The Airfield… … Wikipedia
English Electric — Infobox Defunct Company company name = English Electric company fate = Acquired by GEC foundation = 1918 defunct = 1968 location = Lancashire headquartered at Strand, London successor = BAC GEC ICL subsid= Napier Son (1942 ) The Marconi Company… … Wikipedia
List of railway companies involved in the 1923 grouping — Under the Railways Act 1921 the majority of the railway companies in Great Britain (and few in Northern Ireland) were grouped into four main companies, often termed the Big Four. The grouping took effect from 1 January 1923. The Big FourThe Big… … Wikipedia
The Irish (in Countries Other Than Ireland) — The Irish (in countries other than Ireland) † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Irish (in countries other than Ireland) I. IN THE UNITED STATES Who were the first Irish to land on the American continent and the time of their arrival are … Catholic encyclopedia
Culture of the United Kingdom — The Proms is an eight week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts, on the last night with some traditional patriotic music of the United Kingdom.[1][2] … Wikipedia
North West England — This article is about the government office region. For the European constituency, see North West England (European Parliament constituency). North West England North West region shown within England Geography Status Region … Wikipedia
