The station was planned from 1939 by Poplar Borough Council but construction only started in 1947 after the Second World War.

The site was controversial due to both potential air pollution in a densely populated part of London, and to the implications of further concentrating generating capacity in an area that had been a strategic target in The Blitz.

[1] The building was a monumental brick structure with fluted concrete chimneys, similar to Gilbert Scott's design for Battersea Power Station.

[1] A new 855 feet (261 m) concrete wharf with three Stothert & Pitt luffing cranes was built to land coal brought by colliers.

[1] The first phase of the station was supposed to be commissioned in 1948 but in fact did not start supplying electricity until 1952.

[4] The station was originally coal-fired, but the BEA's successor, the Central Electricity Generating Board, had it converted to oil in 1970–71.