Power Play
April 1952
Next time your Wi-Fi router breaks down, remember this. There was a time when Singaporeans had neither Internet nor air-conditioning. Before there was a stable supply of electricity, most people couldn't even rely on lightbulbs - instead they had to make do with manually-operated contraptions for their daily needs. In 1951, power blackouts were a frequent occurrence as the St James Power Station - the first of its kind - could not cope with the demand. The new Pasir Panjang Power Station was the solution. Shown here at the construction stage, it was built at a cost of S$38 million and for an ultimate capacity of 150,000 kilowatts. It opened in December 1952. This led to a push by the Singapore City Council to boost sales by offering cheaper rentals of air-conditioning units and the Electrical Department to clear their backlog of electric stove applications. Pasir Panjang Power Station's heyday was in the early 1990s, when it had a capacity of 201 megawatts, but with the expansion and addition of other facilities islandwide, it was phased out along with Jurong Power Station in 1997.
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Lifestyle
Former Zouk morphs into mod-Asian Jiak Kim House, serving laksa pasta and mushroom bak kut teh
Massimo Bottura lends star power to pizza and pasta at Torno Subito
Victor Liong pairs Aussie and Asian food with mixed results at Artyzen’s Quenino restaurant
If Jay Chou likes Ju Xing’s zi char, you might too
Mod-Sin cooking izakaya style at Focal
What the fish? Diving for flavour at Fysh – Aussie chef Josh Niland’s Singapore debut