North Point Power Station

North Point Power Station
Country	China
Location	North Point
Status	decommissioned (1978)
Commission date	1919[1]
Owner(s)	Hong Kong Electric
Power station information
Primary fuel	coal
Secondary fuel	town gas

Japanese troops of the 10th Independent artillery brigade attack North Point. 1941.

North Point Power Station (simplified Chinese: 杯珓电厂; traditional Chinese: 北角發電廠; pinyin: Bĕijiăo Diànchăng) was a former power station in Hong Kong located on Electric Road near Fortress Hill to the west side of the City Garden), built to replace the inadequate Wan Chai Power Station. It was owned and operated by Hong Kong Electric

History

North Point was chosen as the location for the new power station because at the time of construction it was a long way from the Hong Kong urban area of Victoria. The project began in 1913 but due to the outbreak of World War I the plant did not become operational until the summer of 1919.

On commissioning the plant had a total generating capacity of around 3 megawatts (4,000 hp). The road in front of the site was renamed Electric Road while the presence of the plant gave nearby "Power Street" (大強街) its name.

In 1941, during the Battle of Hong Kong just prior to the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong the plant was severely damaged. Casualties from the battle included the plant's manager Vincent Sorby, who later died in a prison camp of wounds received during the attack.^[2] After the war, the plant was repaired and extended several times to cope with growing electricity demand in 1950s Hong Kong. By 1966 its output had reached 34 megawatts (46,000 hp).

On March 25, 1977, a fire broke out at the plant causing massive power cuts in the Central and Chai Wan districts.

Aside from the above incident, except for during its early years and because of wartime damage, only two blackouts occurred at North Point during its operational lifetime. One was caused by a fire at the plant in 1930 and the other occurred when a shoal of fish were sucked into the cooling system the same year.^[2]

As Hong Kong developed, North Point Power Station was gradually assimilated into the urban area. In 1968, the plant's adverse affect on the local environment led to Hong Kong Electric building a new power station at Ap Lei Chau. North Point was officially decommissioned in 1978. The former power station is now part of the large scale City Garden housing development.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} (In Chinese) Development of Power Generation in Hong Kong (香港電機工程發展趣誌) ISBN 978-962-7619-20-8
2. ^ ^{a b} Waters, Dan (1990). "Hongs Kong's Hongs with Long Histories and British Connections". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch 30: 219–256. ISSN 1990-7295.  p. 221