It was set up in the yard of Reed's Iron Foundry, and consisted of a Brush dynamo, driven by a Robey engine.

This was used to power sixteen arc lamps on a 1.75 mi (2.82 km) circuit around the town centre, operating from dusk until 11pm every day.

It further extended the system, building a new station on the same site, consisting of three 40-lamp Brush dynamos, powered by a Fowler engine.

In the same year, the system was switched from DC to AC, and electricity was generated at 1,800 volts (V) using single-phase Elwell Parker and Mordey alternators.

[2] The local authority, the Brighton Corporation, had obtained a provisional order allowing them to generate electricity in 1883 but had never the need to exercise it.

By 1904 the North Road station's capacity was at 5,935 kW, with six Lancashire boilers and ten Babcock & Wilcox boilers, steaming nineteen Willans engines, coupled directly to DC generators.

[2][3] The construction on the Southwick power station commenced in 1904, its site chosen because of its position on the harbour, meaning plentiful supply of water for cooling, and access to seaborne coal.

The boilers were chain grate, pulverised coal and retort stoker designs.

[7] In the early 1940s it became clear that a large power station was going to be needed to provide electricity for the south east area.

In 1946 Brighton Corporation was ordered to proceed with the construction of the new station, consisting of six 52.5 MW generating sets.

It was owned and operated by Drax Generation Enterprise Ltd, [1] before being sold in February 2021 to Vitol (VPI Holdings Ltd)[9] It is a 420 megawatt (MW) CCGT-type power that runs on natural gas.