Spondon ‘A’ had a long and interesting history from 1916 to 1982 when it finally closed. Due to its developments through the years it didn’t have the same neat layout that most power stations had.
Turbine Hall under construction
The original Power Station was built by British Cellulose & Chemical Manufacturing Company between 1916 to 1918. It started generating in 1917 to supply electricity to the factory.
Spondon `A’ remained a range station throughout its development with the boilers feeding steam onto a common steam range which eventually supplied the seven turbines and could also supply steam to `H’ Station.
1n 1922 the demand for Cellulose acetate dropped forcing British Cellulose to sell the power station to the Derbyshire & Notts Electric Power Company.
The original Boiler House under construction
At this time the demand for electricity was increasing rapidly, so in 1923 Boiler House 2 construction started to supply the new Generators 3 & 4. It consisted of 8 – 40,000 Ib/Hr Babcock and Wilcox chain grate boilers. Generator 3 was a 12 MW BTH turbine installed in 1923. This was followed by Generator 4 a 15mw BTH turbine installed in 1926.
The next stage was the construction of Boiler House 3 to supply steam to more Generators. Boiler House 3 consisted of 8 – 80,000 Ib/Hr Babcock and Wilcox chain grate boilers.
Boiler House 3 1934
Photo to the left was taken in 1934 of Boiler House 3 half built & supplying steam to Generator 5. Generator 5 was a 25MW BTH turbine installed in 1929. This was followed by Generator 6, a 30MW BTH turbine installed in 1930 and supplied by steam from the completion of Boiler House 3’s remaining 4 Boilers. A further 30MW BTH Generator No 7 was installed in 1935 requiring more steam.
For some strange reason Generators 6 & 7 were installed 90deg to the other turbine’s and overlapped side by side. This required the original Boiler House 1 and associated two 6 MW turbines to be scrapped and replaced with a new Boiler House 1 and two more 30 MW BTH Turbines. New Boiler House 1 consisted of 6 -180,000Ib/Hr Babcock & Willcox chain grate boilers and was required to supply Generator 7 plus new Generators 1 & 2.
Generators 1 & 2 – 30MW BTH Turbines were installed in 1939 & 1944 respectively. Stories say that these turbines were originally destined for Russia but due to the war were diverted to Spondon `A’. It is said that some of the valve labels were originally written in Russian.
All the Boilers at Spondon ‘A’ were built with their own individual chimneys. However, in the 1950’s a 350’ concrete chimney was built behind Boiler House 1. All the Boiler exhaust gasses from Boiler House 1’s six boilers were ducted into the new chimney in an attempt to improve the local air quality.
No 2 Boiler House and Generators 3 & 4 were scrapped by 1974.
Generation of electricity at Spondon Power Station continued until it closed on 1st October 1982. During its latter years it ran mainly for grid security.
