North Point Power Station [1919-c.1981] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

North Point Power Station [1919-c.1981]

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Submitted by David on Sun, 2010-09-26 21:42
Current condition: 
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed: 
c.1919-01-01 (Month, Day are approximate)
Date Place demolished: 
c.1981-12-31 (Year, Month, Day are approximate)

This was Hongkong Electric's second power station. It replaced their first power station in Wanchai, and in turn was replaced by their third power station on Ap Lei Chau.

Tags: 
power station
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Comments

Submitted by tngan on Mon, 2010-09-27 11:06.

Hi there,

That would be more or less equivalent to the present day site of the City Garden.

Best Regards,

T

Submitted by Klaus on Tue, 2016-08-09 21:59.

Wikipedia gives the following dates:

start of operation in summer 1919 (electric capacity 4 MW)

damaged during the Japanese attack in 1941

after the war reconstruction and later extension (electric capacity 34 MW in 1966)

final decommission in 1978 (due to adverse environmental effects on the local surroundings)

 

Submitted by IDJ on Wed, 2016-08-10 18:36.

UnfortunatelyWIKIPEDIA's entry is generally nonsense.

In 1966, the power station's capacity was in the order of 345MW. I was working there at this time.

The fuel used is refered to as Gas, it was actually Fuel Oil in its later years. No gas was ever involved as a primary fuel.

Anyone interested in the full story and statistics should obtain a copy of the book, A MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT by Austin Coates published in 1977.

All the dates and generating capacity are listed there, as well as the history of the company

The power station was available for generating electricity until at least 1976 although it was held in a "Hot Standby" mode of operation.

 

Submitted by Klaus on Fri, 2016-08-12 03:55.
North Point Power Station A 3 MW 1919 North Point, now City Garden residential complex Hong Kong Electric Coal Closed 1989
North Point Power Station B 30 MW 1958 North Point, now City Garden residential complex Hong Kong Electric Coal Closed 1989
North Point Power Station C 60 MW 1966 North Point, now City Garden residential complex Hong Kong Electric Oil Closed 1989

This is from  List of power stations in Hong Kong. Same dates are given in industrialhistoryhk.org

IDJ, does this sound better?

Regards, Klaus

Submitted by IDJ on Fri, 2016-08-12 22:03.

Klaus

Not quite!

The book 'A Mountain of Light' was sponsored by HK Electric so we must assume their Appendix listings are correct.

The Appendix gives much more detail as to the capacity of each of the many generators and boilers plus the makers.

Also individual dates for them. Of interest, four coal fired boilers were bought secondhand from the Dawson City, The Yukon, Alaska, USA in the 1920s! They are listed as unsatisfactory and sold by 1929-31

North Point 'A' 1920-1956 capacity 64.7 MW

North Point'B' 1958-73 capacity 159.4 MW

North Point 'C' 1966-1976 120MW

Over the periods in question the dates do not confirm that all the generators listed were operational and available to provide electricity.

For those interested in land and road developments in North Point. From the book's text, it appears that the Power Station site at one time extended up to a Kings Road frontage, and that Electric Road was incorporated into HK 's site, although the road was later recovered by government. This may explain some map layout anomolies from the 1930s.

Submitted by David on Fri, 2016-09-23 16:10.

The PWD Annual Report for 1928 lists "A large extension to the Generating Station of The Hong Kong Electric Co., Ltd. On M.L. 321, North Point" among the "works of a private nature" completed that year.

Submitted by moddsey on Thu, 2018-09-20 22:48.

From Hong Kong Electric, commissioning and decommissioning dates of power stations on Hong Kong Island. See here