Stella power stations

Stella power stations
Stella North (left) and South (right) power stations Viewed from Newburn Bridge on 31 October 1987
Location of Stella power stations in Tyne and Wear
Official name	Stella North and South power stations
Country	England
Location	Newburn
Coordinates	54°58′22″N 1°43′38″W / 54.97278°N 1.72722°W / 54.97278; -1.72722Coordinates: 54°58′22″N 1°43′38″W / 54.97278°N 1.72722°W / 54.97278; -1.72722
Status	Demolished and sites redeveloped
Construction began	1951
Commission date	1954-57
Decommission date	1991
Construction cost	£40.5 million
Owner(s)	Central Electricity Authority (1954–1957) Central Electricity Generating Board (1957–1990) National Power (1990–1991)
Thermal power station
Primary fuel	Bituminous coal
Power generation
Units operational	North station: Four 60 MW Parsons South station: Five 60 MW Parsons
Nameplate capacity	1957: 240 MW North station 300 MW South station 1991: 224 MW North station 300 MW South station

The Stella power stations were a pair of now-demolished coal-fired power stations in the North East of England that were a landmark in the Tyne valley for over 40 years. The stations stood on either side of a bend of the River Tyne: Stella South power station, the larger, near Blaydon in Gateshead, and Stella North power station near Lemington in Newcastle. Their name originated from the nearby Stella Hall, a manor house close to Stella South that by the time of their construction had been demolished and replaced by a housing estate. They operated from shortly after the nationalisation of the British electrical supply industry until two years after the Electricity Act of 1989, when the industry passed into the private sector.

These sister stations were of similar design and were built, opened, and closed together. Stella South, with a generating capacity of 300 megawatts (MW), was built on the site of the Blaydon Races, and Stella North, with a capacity of 240 MW, on that of the former Lemington Hall. They powered local homes and the many heavy industries of Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham. The large buildings, chimneys and cooling towers were visible from afar. Their operation required coal trains on both sides of the river to supply them with fuel and river traffic by flat iron barges to dump ash in the North Sea. After their closure in 1991, they were demolished in stages between 1992 and 1997. Following the stations' demolition, the sites underwent redevelopment: the North site into a large business and industrial park, the South into a housing estate.