Organisation Todt Power Station

The intention was for the new power station to be linked into the mains of the Jersey Electricity Company (JEC), and supply power to the whole Island when the diesel plant in Queen’s Road was switched off at weekends and over night. 

The steam turbines and boilers were brought from La Rochelle in south-western France, along with a mixed bag of auxiliary components not specifically designed for use with them. The Organisation Todt power station came into use in June 1942, with an operating staff seconded from the JEC. 

The intial suspicion of the JEC staff was not just as to the operation of the facility, but whether they were inadvertently engaged in work at odds with British interests. However, once the supply of diesel was exhausted in September 1944, the power station supplied the entire Island with electricity as far as it was able with diminishing coal stocks.