We can’t imagine our lives without electricity. Our education, work, home life, and leisure are all connected to it. If the power were to go out, modern life would grind to a halt. Yet, there was a time when people lived without electricity, managing their lives with candles, paraffin lamps, and the like. Liverpool, too, once existed without electricity, but eventually, companies began to operate in the city, providing its people with the benefits of modern civilisation. Find out more at liverpoolname.com.
Liverpool’s Hydraulic Power Company: How It All Began
In 1888, the Liverpool Hydraulic Power Company was established. It was the third such company in the country. Initially, the company supplied hydraulic power using water. Its pumping station drew water from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which was then pressurised into the system by steam engines with a combined output of 800 horsepower.
As demand for hydraulic power grew each year, a second pumping station was operational by 1890. Just five years later, 453 hydraulic machines were connected to the network.
Growth and Decline
It is worth noting that the Liverpool Hydraulic Power Company had the authority to lay its mains under the city’s streets. However, in certain cases, permission was required from the Liverpool Corporation. Notably, this permission was not always granted, and there were even complaints that the Corporation was hindering the company’s development. Over time, the company went into decline as electricity became more widely available and affordable. In 1960, the pumping station was converted to run on electricity, and the entire hydraulic system was shut down 11 years later. One of the original pumping sets was subsequently donated to the Museum of Liverpool.
Lister Drive Power Station: What We Know
Lister Drive was another major power station that supplied electricity to the city of Liverpool, operating from the early 1900s until the 1980s. This series of generating stations was owned by the Liverpool Corporation and later Marcus Kemp Coal Limited. It should be noted that the power station was developed in several stages and, for many years, was the leading electricity provider in Liverpool.
An interesting fact: by 1923, the site was operating five ‘destructors’—incinerators that burned domestic and trade waste. The steam generated in the destructor furnaces was used to drive steam turbines connected to AC alternators, generating electricity from the city’s rubbish.
The Arrival of Electricity in Great Britain
Electricity arrived in the country not long before these developments in Liverpool. In 1881, the first public electricity generator was installed in Godalming, Surrey. A year later, the Electric Lighting Act was passed, which was the first piece of public legislation regulating electricity supply in the UK. Also in 1882, Dr John Hopkinson, a professor of electrical engineering at King’s College, patented his three-wire system for DC (direct current) distribution.
By 1900, Parliament had granted power companies perpetual rights to supply electricity to industries. Power stations began to consolidate and improve their services. Transmission voltages gradually increased, from 6.6 kV to 11 kV, and then up to 132 kV in the 1920s. Small, town-based generators were replaced by larger regional power stations. In 1926, the first effective national coordination effort was introduced, and power stations were interconnected by a ‘national grid’. This allowed electricity to be supplied not only to cities but also to other communities across Great Britain.
We hope you found this article informative and learned something new about your home city.