Page 88 - Bulletin 11 2007

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The City of Cape Town lagged behind the suburbs, J. C. Hofmeyr having been opposed
to electric lighting. But in April 1895, Mayor Smartt inaugurated the Graaff Electric

Light Works, later known as the Molteno Power Station. (Fig. 2.10). The generators
could be driven either by water power from the Woodhead Reservoir, or by steam

engines. This station was the first hydro-electric power station in South Africa. An even

larger station was commissioned by the Cape Town Tramway Companies at Toll Gate
the following year, and in 1901 the Camps Bay Tramway Co. commissioned a power

station at Camps Bay.

All steam-driven generators in South Africa before the turn of the century had been
worked by reciprocating (piston) engines. In 1901 the Cape Peninsula Lighting Co.

installed a 50 kilowatt Parsons steam turbine-driven generator at the Wynberg plant.

This set had the distinction of being the first steam turbine-driven generator in South
Africa. In 1903 the Cape Peninsula Lighting Co. installed three “modern” turbine-

driven generators, of 135 kW each, at the station in Stegman Road, Claremont. The

steam plant at Wynberg was also transferred to this new Central Station. (Fig. 2.11).

In the same year, 1903, the Harbour Board commissioned a second and larger power
station close to the first, and from August electric cranes were used for unloading cargo.

The building still stands at the V & A Waterfront. It was being used as a restaurant
called the Planet Hollywood, when a pipe bomb exploded in August 1998, killing two

and injuring 26 people. It is now occupied by the CD Warehouse. The engine room

crane is still in place. The following year, in April 1904, Mayor W. Thorne opened the
Dock Road Power Station in the City, but reciprocating piston engines were still used to

drive the dynamos. (Fig. 2.12). Turbines were not installed until 1913. Dock Road was
in service until September 1961, making it one of the longest serving stations in the

country. It was demolished in 1962 to make way for development of the Foreshore.
That portion of the original Dock Road where the power station stood is now called

Hans Strijdom Avenue.

By the end of 1904, the following six power stations were in service in the Cape: