The Turbine House

The Stockholm entrepreneur Ludvig Fredholm and the brothers Jonas and Georg Wenström lay behind this lighting system. Georg Wenström was in fact responsible, together with Fredholm, for installing, in 1881, Stockholm’s first experimental street lighting system. In 1883, the Wenström brothers and Fredholm had founded Elektriska Aktiebolaget i Stockholm with workshop and manufacturing in the small town of Arboga. Towards the end of the 1880s it was decided to expand the business, and the company looked for new premises in or outside Arboga.

Asea and the Turbine House
This need for larger premises led to a ‘tug-of-war’ between Arboga, Örebro and Västerås over the location of the company. In Västerås Oskar Fredrik Wijkman, member of the city council, had earlier contacted the company in connection with the electric lighting of Västerås Cathedral.

The factor that finally settled the transfer to Västerås was the availability of electricity. This could be generated as a result of the town acquiring a mill on the Svartån river and then building in its place one of Sweden’s first power plants. It was to be called the Turbine House. Thanks to the three DC turbine-generator sets in this power plant the company would be able to obtain sufficient electricity for all of its activities.

In December 1890 the company decided to move to Västerås. In the same year Elektriska Aktiebolaget i Stockholm merged with Wenströms & Granströms Elektriska Kraftbolag, founded in 1889 by Georg Wenström and Gustaf Granström, a mining engineer, to form Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget, later to be known as Asea.

It is not actually clear who designed the Turbine House, but it was important that it should blend in with the attractive city environment around Västerås Castle. The result was a stylish mixture of Gothic and Neo-classical styles. A special feature worth seeing is the beautifully carved door with the arms of the City of Västerås.




Inside the Turbine House
First years
The Turbine House was let to Asea for an annual rent of SEK 6,000. At its own expense the company installed all the electrical equipment.

Asea was successful and continued to expand. As early as 1902 the electricity generated in the Turbine House became insufficient and the power plant was returned to the city.

Despite the short period of time during which Asea was dependent on the Turbine House, we can easily perceive its enormous importance to Västerås as a city. Around 1890 Arboga and Västerås, in principle, were of the same size. After the transfer of Asea to Västerås, the gap between Arboga and Västerås increased year by year. Today, Västerås is nearly ten times as large as Arboga.

Power plant and storeroom
After Asea left the Turbine House, it served as a municipal power plant. A comprehensive refurbishment involving the replacement of two of the machines took place in 1910-11. The power plant’s output was raised in this way from 150 to 200 h.p., which was the unit used to express electrical power in those days.

The Turbine House remained in use until the 1950s, when alternating current replaced direct current. Over the next 20 years the Turbine House served as a storeroom.

Museum
Towards the end of the 1960s the idea to turn the Turbine House into a museum was raised. The City of Västerås wanted to relate it in this way to the major role played by the power plant in its development. The problem was merely to raise sufficient funds. This is the reason why the project was delayed for a number of years.

The aim was to install an old turbine in order to make the power plant independent of other electricity than that generated in it. However, the lack of funds for the project for a long time appeared to set a stop. As a makeshift it was suggested that an electric motor should be used to drive one of the generators. A lot of people considered this to be cheating and many inhabitants of Västerås became indignant.

Finally, to the satisfaction of all and sundry, an old turbine was found in Dalarna. This was installed in the Turbine House and, together with the generator from 1910-11, provided sufficient electricity for the carbon filament lamps to light up the interior. Asea contributed several old machines for inclusion in the exhibition. The City of Västerås consequently acquired a technical museum, which presented an important part of its history.

The museum was inaugurated by King Carl XVI Gustaf on 17 June, 1974.

Today
During the autumn of 1995 work started once again on bringing the Turbine House back into commercial operation. Its foundations were reinforced and two new turbine-generator sets were installed and connected to the municipal electricity supply network. The Turbine House has today an output of 110 kW. At the same time, the museum section of the Turbine House was refurbished.

With this refurbishment there is once again a link to an important era in the history of Västerås and Sweden. By visiting the Turbine House, the general public can get a glimpse of the developments that have taken place since 1890 and the importance that water and electricity have had and will continue to have.