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History
The south side of Bankside Power Station was equipped with a very large Switch House, a substation and control room, which transformed and directed the generated power to the local grid. The Switch House belonged to London Electricity and continued to distribute power to the surrounding neighbourhood, long after Bankside's breakers had permanently tripped out. By November 1998, London Electricity Plc. had been bought by EDF Energy (Electricite de France).
When Tate Modern became the new owners of Bankside, they had to tolerate 'noisy neighbours'. "The transformers produced a pervasive hum throughout the main building which the Tate was eventually able to reduce, but not eliminate."
The Tate had always intended to colonise more of the Power Station, but at the beginning of its project in 2000, time and money was not on its side.
Switched On
By 2006, Tate Modern had become a huge tourist attraction and plans for its expansion moved forward with the purchase (from EDF) of the west half of the Switch House. The London Development Agency agreed to fund £7 million towards the relocation (and updating) of the substation's aging switchgear into the east section. This would allow the Tate's new building, in the footprint of the old oil tanks, to be connected to the existing galleries via the additional space in the vacated Switch House.
On 27 March 2007 Southwark Council granted planning permission for the application:
"Demolition of the western part of the section of the former Bankside power station that is currently in use by EDF Energy, and construction of an extension of the Tate Modern with a 24,385 sq. metres gross external area building with a maximum height of 71 metres."
Three substations were decommissioned, and in record time, two new 11kV installations were provided as well as a 22kV substation. The new switchgear extends over more than 80 positions, making it one of the longest suites in Europe.
A multitude of other circuits with voltages from 66kV up to 132kV were diverted and re-terminated using state-of-the- art gas insulated switchgear, control equipment, transformers and cables.
Fewer cooling fans are required as the new transformers are equipped with water-cooled heat exchangers which will assist in the heating of the Tate's new galleries.
Local Heating Scheme
Bankside Power Station had a 'District Heating Scheme' to capture waste heat from its vast chimney, via 'hot condensate cooling water', which was then used to heat nearby properties. This scheme ended when the power station closed in the 1980s.
However, in the new (2012) substation, heat emitted by the six electricity transformers will be captured and used for heating and hot water in the Tate Modern extension. Up 600 kW of heat will be produced.
Hand over
The new substation was completed within three and a half years instead of the usual five, and thus on 25th February 2012, Basil Scarsella of UK Power Networks officially handed over the vacated western section to Alex Beard of the Tate.
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Feb 2016 revision.
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