St James Power Station

St James Power Station (Chinese: 圣占姆士发电厂; pinyin: Shèngzhànmǔshì Fādiànchǎng) is a music and nightlife venue in the HarbourFront area of the Bukit Merah Planning Area, Singapore, near VivoCity. Built in 1926, it was Singapore's first coal-fired power plant supplying electricity to nearby shipyards, industry and residences.

The site was a headland that was mostly a tidal swamp with small inhabitations of Orang Laut (sea gypsies) that lived on stilt houses and fished for a living.

Sir Stamford Raffles purchased this plot of land as part of Telok Blangah Estate from Temenggong to set up a trading port. Its naturally sheltered and deep waters was to meet the requirements of British colonists attempting to establish a Far East maritime colony in this part of the world, and thereby setting the stage for the eventual formation of Singapore as a successful independent state.

Electricity was first generated in Singapore for public infrastructures such as Port of Singapore by Singapore Harbour Board in 1897 and electric trams and street lighting by Singapore Tramway Company in 1902. Later, it was found that the electricity generated to drive the trams could also be used to supply to towns like Tanglin, steadily increasing demand over the years. Electricity was fast becoming a necessity rather than a luxury as businesses and households needed to power their electrical appliances. Those power plants proved to be inadequate, and the British Administration desperately needed a power plant to meet growing industrial and domestic needs, and allow for Singapore’s future growth and development.

In 1924, Cape St James was chosen by A. H. Preece, consulting engineer as the location for the new power station as it had 1) proximity to sea for free, unlimited access to seawater for the plant’s water circulation system 2) proximity to sea-borne coal 3) proximity to the Federated Malay States Railway Station for freight train-imported coal and building materials, and 4) large area of five acres.

In order to meet urgent power demands, a 2,000 kW generator was rushed to be completed. However, since more than half of the site was tidal, a considerable amount of preliminary work to reclaim 12,000 square yards before the actual work of laying the concrete foundations and erecting the huge steel skeleton. That one generator was completed in June 1926 but would only run during peak loads from 6pm to 11pm.

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Wikipedia