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Abstract

In the 1950s, the UK industry — which included Metropolitan Vickers, British Thomson-Houston, English Electric, Brush, Parsons, Reyrolle, GEC, Ferranti, Crompton Parkinson, and Richardsons Westgarth — had a healthy flow of home orders and a large share of world trade in electrical generating plant and transmission equipment. The 1960s saw a large peak in home orders and a wave of takeovers that left GEC and Reyrolle Parsons as the only UK suppliers offering a full product range, including large steam-turbine generators, power transformers and switchgear. The 1970s have been a lean period for the UK industry, with few home orders and lingering uncertainty about the future. This chapter examines the industry’s recent performance and its prospects. First, we explain the technical and market framework in which it operates.

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© 1980 Science Policy Research Unit

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Surrey, A.J., Buckley, C.M., Robson, M.J. (1980). Heavy Electrical Plant. In: Pavitt, K. (eds) Technical Innovation and British Economic Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06381-9_13

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