Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Electricity supply |
Founded | Newcastle upon Tyne, UK (1889 ) |
Founder | Charles Algernon Parsons |
Defunct | 1 April 1948 |
Fate | Nationalised |
Successor | North Eastern Electricity Board |
Headquarters | |
Number of locations | 4 power stations (1908) |
Area served | West of Newcastle upon Tyne to border at Throckley |
Key people | Charles Algernon Parsons, Managing director . William Dods Hunter, Company engineer, later Managing Director. |
The Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company (abbreviated to DISCo) was a pre-nationalisation, private electricity supply company, based in Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England. The company was set up in 1889 by Charles Algernon Parsons. [1] [2] The company built a number of small coal-fired power stations in the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne, initially to supply homes and streets with electric lighting. They also provided power for an electrified tram line in the western part of the city.
DISCo was the first electric supply company in the world to generate electricity using turbo generators, thanks to Parsons' invention of the steam turbine. [3] The company existed until the nationalisation of the UK's electrical supply industry in 1948. [4]
Following his invention of the steam turbine in 1884, Charles Algernon Parsons was anxious to move into electricity supply, and so in 1889 he founded up the Newcastle and District Electric Electric Lighting Company. Their distribution area was quickly decided; they were to supply the area of the city to the west of Grainger Street, while the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Electric Supply Company (NESCo), who had also been formed in 1889, were to supply the eastern side of the city. DISCo's distribution area was expanded west to Newburn in 1902, and north to Benwell and Fenham in 1904. They were unable to extend this any further after losing a number of Parliamentary battles with NESCo in the early 1900s. [4]
The first power station the company constructed was at Forth Banks in the city centre in 1890. This was the first power station in the world to generate electricity commercially using steam turbine driven generators. A further power station was constructed in close proximity to the Forth Banks station in 1902, on The Close. Another two stations were built by the company at Lemington, in 1903, and at Newburn, in 1908. All of the stations built by the company used steam turbines built by Parson's turbine building company C. A. Parsons and Company. [4]
Charles Parsons was initially held the title as the company's managing director, until 1902 when he stepped down, but remained with the company as a director, before finally retiring in 1909. The majority of the North East's electric supply companies merged with NESCo in 1932 to form the North Eastern Electric Supply Company (again known as NESCo). However, DISCo was one of only three electric supply companies in the region to not merge into NESCo. DISCo ceased to exist in 1948, becoming part of the North Eastern Electricity Board (NEEB), with the nationalisation of the UK's electrical supply industry. [4]
Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, was an Anglo-Irish engineer, best known for his invention of the compound steam turbine, and as the eponym of C. A. Parsons and Company. He worked as an engineer on dynamo and turbine design, and power generation, with great influence on the naval and electrical engineering fields. He also developed optical equipment for searchlights and telescopes.
The Hartford Electric Light Company (HELCO) is a defunct electrical company that was located on Pearl Street in Hartford, Connecticut. It was merged with the Connecticut Power Company in 1958 and later these became Connecticut Light & Power. Its former corporate headquarters building and main facility are in the Ann Street Historic District.
The North Eastern Electric Supply Company was responsible for the supply of electricity to a large amount of North East England, prior to the nationalisation of the British electricity industry with the Electricity Act 1947. The company was established as the Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Company in 1889, but was renamed the North Eastern Electricity Supply company as it expanded to supply the North East region.
C. A. Parsons and Company was a British engineering firm which was once one of the largest employers on Tyneside. The company became Reyrolle Parsons in 1968, merged with Clarke Chapman to form Northern Engineering Industries in 1977, and became part of Rolls-Royce in 1989. Today the company is part of Siemens Energy.
Three distinct coal-fired power stations were built at Deptford on the south bank of the River Thames, the first of which is regarded as the first central high-voltage power station in the world.
Dunston Power Station refers to a pair of adjacent coal-fired power stations in the North East of England, now demolished. They were built on the south bank of the River Tyne, in the western outskirts of Dunston in Gateshead. The two stations were built on a site which is now occupied by the MetroCentre. The first power station built on the site was known as Dunston A Power Station, and the second, which gradually replaced it between 1933 and 1950, was known as Dunston B Power Station. The A Station was, in its time, one of the largest in the country, and as well as burning coal had early open cycle gas turbine units. The B Station was the first of a new power station design, and stood as a landmark in the Tyne for over 50 years. From the A Station's opening in 1910 until the B Station's demolition in 1986, they collectively operated from the early days of electricity generation in the United Kingdom, through the industry's nationalisation, and until a decade before its privatisation.
Lemington Power Station was a small, now demolished coal-fired power station, located in North East England. It was situated on the Lemington Gut, a backwater of the River Tyne, at Lemington, 3.5 mi (5.6 km) west of Newcastle upon Tyne. The station's main building stood until 2017 as a rare example of an early power station, dating from before the nationalisation of the United Kingdom's electrical supply industry.
The Stella power stations were a pair of now-demolished coal-fired power stations in the North East of England that were a landmark in the Tyne valley for over 40 years. The stations stood on either side of a bend of the River Tyne: Stella South power station, the larger, near Blaydon in Gateshead, and Stella North power station near Lemington in Newcastle. Their name originated from the nearby Stella Hall, a manor house close to Stella South that by the time of their construction had been demolished and replaced by a housing estate. They operated from shortly after the nationalisation of the British electrical supply industry until two years after the Electricity Act of 1989, when the industry passed into the private sector.
Carville Power Station refers to a pair of now partially demolished coal-fired power stations, situated in North East England on the north bank of the River Tyne at Wallsend. The two stations were built alongside each other on a riverside site about 5 mi (8.0 km) downstream of Newcastle upon Tyne. Carville A Power Station, the first station on the site was opened in 1904, and Carville B Power Station was opened in 1916 to its south.
Forth Banks Power Station refers to a now-demolished coal-fired power station in North East England. It was situated in the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne on Forth Banks, a street to the rear of Newcastle Central station. Put up in a disused factory building in 1890 by the Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company (DisCo), it is notable as the first power station in the world to use turbo alternators, as well as being one of the first municipal power stations in the United Kingdom.
Neptune Bank Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on the River Tyne at Wallsend near Newcastle upon Tyne. Commissioned in 1901 by the Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Company, the station was the first in the world to provide electricity for purposes other than domestic and street lighting. It was also the first in the world to generate electricity using three-phase electrical power distribution at a voltage of 5,500 volts.
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.
Close Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on Newcastle upon Tyne's Quayside, in modern Tyne and Wear. The station was built by the Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company in 1902, near their Forth Banks Power Station.
Manors Power Station or the Tramways Generating Station is a former coal-fired power station located in the Manors district of the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear in North East England. The station's turbine hall and other remaining buildings are Grade II listed.
Pandon Dene Power Station was an early coal-fired power station situated on the Pandon Dene, to the east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Newburn Steelworks was a large steel mill on the banks of the River Tyne at Newburn, near Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England.
The Charing Cross and Strand Electricity Supply Corporation Limited was a British electricity undertaking. It was incorporated as a public company in 1889 to generate and supply electricity to parts of the City of Westminster, Holborn and later the City of London. From 1925 it worked jointly with other companies as part of the London Power Company. The company was abolished on 31 March 1948 when the British electricity industry was nationalised, and its assets were transferred to the British Electricity Authority and the London Electricity Board. The Charing Cross Corporation's Bow power station continued in operation until 1969.
The Norwich power stations were a sequence of electricity generating stations that provided electric power to the City of Norwich and the wider area between 1893 and 1986. The first station in Duke Street began operating in 1893, a new power station at Thorpe was in service from 1926 to 1967, this was supplemented with a 'high pressure' station, 1937–1975, and finally a gas turbine station operated from 1964–1986.
Burnley power station supplied electricity to the town of Burnley, Lancashire from 1893 to 1958. The electricity station was owned and operated by Burnley Corporation prior to the nationalisation of the British electricity industry in 1948. It was redeveloped as demand for electricity grew and old plant was replaced, and had an ultimate generating capacity of 8 MW in the 1920s. The station closed in 1958.
Trafford power station supplied electricity to the Trafford and Stretford areas of Greater Manchester, and to the national grid, from 1929 to 1976. The generating station was built by the Stretford and District Electricity Board which it operated until the nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry in 1948. The 60 megawatt coal-fired station was supplemented in 1952 with an experimental 15 megawatt gas turbine generating set.