Lister Drive Power Station
in Liverpool
1900 Construction of No. 1 station started, similar in design to that at Pumpfields.
Equipped with 12 Willans vertical type engines running at 230 revolutions per minute, and giving a continuous output of 1,200 i.h.p. but capable of developing a maximum of 1,500 i.h.p. for short periods. Siemens multipolar dynamos, mounted on a bed-plate rigidly connected to the engine bed-plate of 700kW each[1]. The machines are shunt wound and self-excited, and give an output of 1,420 amperes at 550 volts. On either side of the engine-room is a boiler-house of the same length as the engine-room, 51 feet wide. Each contained 14 Lancashire boilers, fitted with mechanical stokers and superheaters.
1903-4 No. 2 station was added to supply outlying districts, owned and operated by Liverpool Corporation. It was generally similar in design to the No. 1 Station but used turbines; it supplied three-phase current at 6 kV to several substations across the area of supply, at which points the ac was transformed into low voltage dc by the use of induction motor generators of 200 and 500kW capacity.
By 1909, 3 sections of the no.2 station had been completed, and the remaining section was under construction. At that stage, the generating plant consisted of 4 2,000 kW Westinghouse horizontal and three 2,000 kW Curtis British Thomson-Houston vertical turbo-alternators. The boiler-house plant consists of twelve Babcock and Wilcox water-tube boilers, each capable of evaporating 25,000 lb. of water per hour under ordinary working conditions. The boilers were fitted with chain grate-stokers and superheaters. Three Green's economisers were in use.
1911 The engines in the No.1 station were replaced by turbines
By 1911 the Pumpfields and Lister Drive stations were carrying the full load of the City; the other stations had been shut down.
By 1913 Lister Drive was supplying rotary converters at Pumpfields so the steam plant there was no longer operating.
Post-1913: Harold Dickinson was responsible for the re-modelling of the two stations
By 1919 all of the smaller and older power stations in Liverpool had been closed down, while Lister Drive had been expanded and was now generating 37 MW.
1923 Capacity was 66.0 MW ac and 4.0 MW dc.
1924 The No. 3 station was constructed with 50MW capacity. It had the first UK hyperbolic ferro-concrete cooling tower. Constructed by Henshaw, capacity 523,000 gals/h.[2] to a design by L.G. Mouchel and Partners who persuaded the City Engineers to consider the new material. The Lister Drive towers were 39.6m high and 30.5m in diameter at the base. The sides were 368mm thick at the base, decreasing progressively to 165mm at the top. Holes at ground level allowed the passage of air — hence the description "natural draught". [3].
1927 Total capacity was 103.54 MW
1928 It was decided by the Corporation to make an investment in a new power station at Clarence Dock, so further investment at Lister Drive would not be progressed, overturning the decision made in December 1927[4]
1948 Nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry.
1950s Operational capacity was c.48MW
1965 Two 56 MW English Electric gas turbine-alternator sets were commissioned in March 1965; these used fuel oil.
1981 The stations were decommissioned