Hams Hall consisted of three power stations located on a 950 acre site which was originally purchased by the City of Birmingham in March 1919 for their Electric Supply Department.
The original Hams Hall building
The site was originally the home of Hams Hall, the ancestral hall of Lord Norton. It was considered a good place to build a power station being about 9 miles from Birmingham City centre and well situated for cooling water and coal supplies.
In 1926 work began on the building of Hams `A’ Station. The station was completed in1938/9 and had a generated output of 240 MW.
Hams Hall A Power Station supplied by Jim Aldridge
Hams `A’ original five Babcock & Wilcox boilers were the first in the UK to introduce PF (pulverised fuel) firing. The later nine ICL boilers were Chain Grate.
In 1962 a 15 MW aircraft gas turbine generator was installed in Hams `A’ turbine loading bay. It was used to assess the suitability of aircraft gas turbine generators for meeting peak-load and providing emergency supplies and black start capability for 500MW generator units. It remained operational until1980.
Hams Hall `A’ Power Station was finally closed in 1975 but had undergone partial closure prior to this.
Hams Hall B Station image supplied by Jim Aldridge
Work began on the construction of Hams `B’ Station in 1938 and the first generator was commissioned in 1942. Completion was made difficult by World War 2 but the station was fully commissioned by1949.
During this time the Electricity Act of 1947 resulted in the ownership of Hams Hall power station site being nationalised and transferred from the City of Birmingham Electric Supply Department to the British Electricity Authority (B.E.A.) on 1st April 1948.
When completed Hams `B’ had a generated output of 321 MW which at the time made it the largest power station in the Midlands Region.
Construction of Hams `C’ started in the early 1950’s and it was fully commissioned in 1957 with six 60MW Generator Units and a total output of 360MW.
Hams Hall C image supplied by Jim Aldridge
In 1970 permission was granted for the station to convert the boilers to dual firing with both coal and natural gas on all six units.
After privatisation in 1990, the station ownership of Hams `C’ was transferred to Powergen.
Hams Hall `C’ Power Station was finally closed in 1992 ending electricity generation on this site.
Hams Hall Information
Hams Hall Site
