Ruins of buildings #1..South Fremantle (Western Australia) Power Station..Construction of the Power Station commenced in January, 1946. The South Fremantle site was chosen for its relatively close metropolitan population, its proximity to nearby railway facilities for the delivery of coal and the ease with which seawater could be utilised for the cooling systems. The official opening of the Power Station on 27 June 1951. The power station was then complete with a total capacity of 100 MW in December 1954, after all its four boilers and alternators came on line. Much of the plant was designed and manufactured in England, with skilled contractors sent out from England to assemble the plant on site. The State Energy Commission encouraged the recruitment of staff by providing housing in the Hilton Park area, and the new suburb soon had many community amenities. Over 250 workers were employed at the power station during the 1950s. In 1954, a major fire at South Fremantle in the coal conveyor from the crusher house caused structural damage and resulted in a switch to oil fuel for the boilers. In the mid 1970s the plant was converted back to coal, which fuelled the station until its closure in 1985. By the 1980s production of electricity at South Fremantle had become uneconomical. The interconnected grid then was supplying electricity from power stations with more up-to-date machinery and closer to the coal source at Collie, Bunbury, Kwinana and Muja. In September 1985, the South Fremantle Power Station closed after 34 years service and its four chimney stacks were demolished.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 11:31:46 +0000
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