North Tees Power Station 1.33

North Tees Power Station refers to a series of three coal-fired power stations on the River Tees at Billingham in County Durham. Overall, they operated from 1921 until 1983, and the C station, the last on the site, was demolished in 1987. Billingham Biomass Power Station is to be built on their site.North Tees AHistoryIn 1917, the Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Company (NESCo) took control of the principal electrical undertakings for a large area in south County Durham and North Yorkshire. To supply the newly acquired area, NESCo built the North Tees Power Station on the banks of the River Tees at Billingham. The construction of the station began in 1917 and was completed for opening in 1921.Design and specificationThe station was designed by the engineering consultants Merz & McLellan. The station used two Metropolitan-Vickers 20,000 kilowatt (kW) turbo-alternators to generate electricity, giving it a total generating capacity of 40,000 kW. The Babcock & Wilcox boilers which were used to provide the steam to the turbines in the station, were famous in engineering circles at the time. In 1918 the boilers became the first in the world to use steam at up to 450 psi, and pioneered the practice of reheating it during expansion in the turbine plant. This development resulted in a further increase in the efficiency of power generation, and an appreciable decrease in the quantity of coal consumed per unit of electricity generated. In 1922, W.S. Monroe of the Chicago-based consulting firm Sargent & Lundy described North Tees Power Station as "the most advanced power station in the world".