Visited with Ben Cooper and Speeeeeedio
We met while still dark, and stealthily made our way in. The first stop was the Control Room, which was fantastic in it's 80s styling.
It reminded me of Pyestock, the industrial Behemoth of the South. The green slanted control boxes, rows and rows of switches and a quiet hum flicking away at the nerves, reminding you that althought once there was activity, an echo is all that remains.
On the subject of activity, the useful lifespan of Inverkip was a minute 3 years. Built in 1970, the 1973 Oil price crisis meant that Power Production using oil was too costly to justify, and the station never operated at close to it's intended capacity, with one turbine space remaining completely unoccupied throughout it's life, and it's only usage being to provide power in peak times, when other stations were struggling to satisfy demand.
The only time the Power Station operated at full capacity was during the 1985/86 Miners Strike, when the power station opened up it's turbines and ran at full.
In 1988, the station was closed down and mothballed.
The Boilers at the back of the Turbine Hall were huge, a massive climb up the side of them taking us to the roof
The Roof was impressive.
We ended our tour once we believed we'd seen everything there was to see, and departed with no issues.
The site is scheduled to be demolished in 2009, although Scottish Power own the site as part of the strategic reserve.
Thanks to Ben Cooper for making this possible.
We met while still dark, and stealthily made our way in. The first stop was the Control Room, which was fantastic in it's 80s styling.
It reminded me of Pyestock, the industrial Behemoth of the South. The green slanted control boxes, rows and rows of switches and a quiet hum flicking away at the nerves, reminding you that althought once there was activity, an echo is all that remains.
On the subject of activity, the useful lifespan of Inverkip was a minute 3 years. Built in 1970, the 1973 Oil price crisis meant that Power Production using oil was too costly to justify, and the station never operated at close to it's intended capacity, with one turbine space remaining completely unoccupied throughout it's life, and it's only usage being to provide power in peak times, when other stations were struggling to satisfy demand.
The only time the Power Station operated at full capacity was during the 1985/86 Miners Strike, when the power station opened up it's turbines and ran at full.
In 1988, the station was closed down and mothballed.
The Boilers at the back of the Turbine Hall were huge, a massive climb up the side of them taking us to the roof
The Roof was impressive.
We ended our tour once we believed we'd seen everything there was to see, and departed with no issues.
The site is scheduled to be demolished in 2009, although Scottish Power own the site as part of the strategic reserve.
Thanks to Ben Cooper for making this possible.
