Evans Bay Power Station

Electricity first came to Wellington in 1889, initially to light the City’s streets. The first generating plant was built on what is now Te Aro Park in lower Manners Street and lighting was installed and maintained by a private company, the Gulcher Electric Light and Power Company, London. In 1892 the company expanded its offering to provide power for interior lighting in residential and commercial buildings, requiring a further steam-powered generating unit to be built in Mercer Street on the site today occupied by the City Art Gallery in Civic Square.

In 1904 the Council set up its own electrical generating plant, on the corner of Jervois Quay and Wakefield Street, to supply electricity to the electric tramway service, and later the street lighting. This ran concurrently with the private company until 1907, when the Council raised a loan to purchase the assets of Gulcher Electric Light and Power Company.

The Jervois Quay station, together with a plant at Harris Street was expanded over the years.

By 1920 there was an urgent need for increased capacity to keep up with the development of the city. Wellington’s Evans Bay Power Station was commissioned in 1924 to boost the capital city’s electricity supply.

The location was deliberated on and there were four possible sites considered – Miramar, the Southern end of Evans Bay, Evans Bay (reclaimed land) and Kaiwarra [Kaiwharawhara]. A site on the foreshore not far from the northern end of Wellington airport was finally decided on as it fitted most of the criteria – it was available immediately once the reclamation was completed near the Union Steam Company’s land, it was outside the City’s business area, it was near to the water for easy access to both water and deliveries, coal could easily be delivered to it and the initial set-up was relatively inexpensive.

The power station was coal-fired and was built at a cost of £350,000. It consisted of massive steam-powered turbines which were eventually supplemented with a diesel generator for emergency use. This station guaranteed an uninterrupted supply of electricity to the city and allowed the Municipal Electricity Department to sell power back to the Government when surplus supply was available, thus it was used for peak load in the Capital. As demand increased, the power station was expanded with the installation of a 15,000-kW turbine generator and two Velox oil-fired boilers producing 90,000 lb of steam pressure per hour.

Before it was built, however, local residents sent a petition to the Council against having it located at Evans Bay, on the grounds that it would destroy a beauty spot, take away a children’s playground, the railway siding would prove a ‘menace and danger’ to the public and there would be a smoke nuisance to neighbouring houses. In this they were partly correct - it had an unsightly appearance and its low chimneys resulted in local dispersion of smoke and ash. On July 19^th, 1924, the Evening Post reported the dissatisfaction of local residents, especially on washing day, which was said to go not ‘go by the day of the week, but by the direction of the wind, with family prayers that the direction will hold until all is dry and in the basket. Issues and complaints of this nature continued for at least two decades.

As well as complaints the occasional accident occurred due to the popularity of the heated water dispersed from the station onto the shoreline. Many people risked being fined for trespassing so they could bathe in the warm water. One sad fatality occurred when a small boy was found drowned near the grating of the station, having sneaked through the broken paling of the fence.

The station was used as the main base load by the central government during country-wide power supply shortages in wartime up until commissioning of hydro stations on the Waikato in the 1950s. The Department's main power plant in Evans Bay was transferred to the New Zealand Government in 1950. It was little used thereafter and was finally shut down in 1968.