Peak power for the underground
Greenwich Power Station
This power station was built to power London's trams and tubes. Still today it provides back-up power for the underground.
The power station was completed by 1906. During the building of the station the Royal Observatory up the hill objected to the height of the chimneys so they were lowered from 250 feet to just 182 feet.
At first the station used coal to fuel the boilers for steam engines. The coal came up the Thames and was unloaded at the pier which still sticks out into the river from the bank by the power station.
Today the fuel is gas or oil to power gas turbine engines which spin the generators.
Submitted by: Andrew Hunt, 22 January 2007
