Hi,
Douglas Corporation headhunted Bertie Kelly, Chief Assistant Engineer of the MER in 1922 as Borough Electrical Engineer and had a small power house on the North Quay. By 1927 they were looking to massively increase electrical use in the borough and Bertie Kelly approached the MERCo which then generated its own power from power stations at Laxey and Ballaglass.

The MER supplied over 100 customers with power at this time in Douglas, Onchan, along the lineside and as far as Ramsey. This used spare capacity, but to generate the power Douglas wanted would have required a major outlay on more generating plant and feeder cables and the MERCo could not afford the capital outlay.

Bertie Kelly then went ahead with the construction of Pulrose, which I believe came on line generating in 1930-31, as MER sales to customers dropped from their 1930 peak by around a third in 1931. The MER looked at taking power from Douglas in 1931 but decided it was not economic.

The IOM Electricity Board was a result of a 1920s commission on extending electric power throughout the Island, the report being approved by Tynwald in June 1929. The actual act authorising this led to a crisis between the Governor and the Keys some months later.

Rather than build a separate station, the report had accepted Bertie Kelly's idea that Pulrose supply the IOMEB as well, and to cater for this expected demand, capacity at Pulrose was doubled within a couple of years of opening. In 1935 the MER abandoned power generation, taking power from the IOMEB.

Pulrose had two generations of cooling towers. The first was a wooden framed structure built when the powerhouse was erected in 1929-1930. The more modern tower was added later, but I do not know when.

Robert Hendry