[5] Alternating current (AC) for domestic and commercial consumers was first supplied on 14 December 1891, this was a single-phase, 100 Hz, three-wire, 204/102 volt system.
In 1934 Bankside was connected to London ring of the National Grid and became a 'selected' station under the operational control of the Central Electricity Board.
In May 1910 an officer of the Public Control Department of the London County Council stated that he had observed black smoke issuing from the centre chimney and "in such volumes as to constitute a nuisance".
[12] This was contested by the company which said the information was inaccurate, since this was after sunset "any vapour or gas would assume a dark appearance […] and the absence of light would not ensure accuracy".
[13] The London County Council undertook tests to measure the deposition of grit in the area during the summer of 1950.
They estimated that up to 235 tons per square mile of grit was deposited in the area from Bankside ‘A’ power station during the month of September 1950.
Preliminary plans were drawn up by the CEB for a new power station, Bankside B, but World War II delayed any further redevelopment.
[1] The redevelopment of Bankside power station, suspended during the war, was started again by the City of London Electric Lighting Company in 1944.
[1] It was a highly controversial proposal as it continued industrialisation of the South Bank which the 1943 County of London Plan had sought to redevelop with offices, flats and educational and cultural institutions.
The chimney's height was less than that of St Paul's Cathedral, which is directly opposite, but set back from, the north bank of the Thames.
Bankside B was set-back from the riverfront to allow the boulevard proposed in the County of London Plan to be developed at a later date.
[1] Bunker 'C' oil was delivered by barge from the Shell Haven refinery on the Thames estuary to three large underground tanks to the south of the building.
The western half of the building, plus the chimney, was completed first and started generating power in 1952 from four boilers and two 60 MW turbo-alternators.
[21][22][better source needed] Bankside B had a flue-gas washing plant to mitigate air pollution at its central London location.
[24] At Bankside flue-gases from the boilers were washed with a three-pass counter-current/co-current flow of river water from the Thames (to which chalk was added) in cedar wood scrubber towers.
[24] This pollution was insignificant in the 1950s but was detrimental to the recovery of the Thames after concerted efforts were made to clean up the river from the late 1960s.
[25][27] In 1971 the London Electricity Board gained legal powers to develop a district heating scheme at Bankside.
[23] A boiler house was constructed on the north face of the building at the base of the chimney together with underground pipes in Tooley Street.
These included an industrial museum, an entertainment hall, a hotel, an opera house, and a conference and exhibition centre, but none were financially viable.
[37][38] The government wished to sell the site and listing would have constrained how developers could intervene in the fabric of the building.
The company prepared the building for sale by removing asbestos and the redundant machinery at a cost of £2.5 million.
An electrical substation, taking up the southern part of the building, remained on-site and was owned by the French power company EDF Energy.
[47] Several episodes of British television, particularly science fiction series that have required industrial backdrops, such as Red Dwarf, were filmed at the station.