The foundation stone of Upper Boat Power Station was laid on April 30th 1902. South Wales Electrical Power Distribution Company owned the power station, built on the western side of the River Taff. From the earliest days of the Estate (circa 1937) steam was taken from the South Wales Power Company's Upper Boat Power Station and distributed over some two thirds of the area of the Treforest Industrial Estate (all west of the main avenue) for heating and for use in industrial processes. The steam was carried at high pressure to four strategically placed de-superheating stations from which it was distributed to factories at lower temperatures and pressures. Some industries established at Treforest were big users of process steam and its availability was a material factor in their location at Treforest. When the Central Electricity Generating Board, who took over the Upper Boat Power Station on nationalisation of the electricity supply industry after the Was, gave notice that the station would cease to operate continuously, the Welsh Industrial Estates Corporation built its own central boiler plant to feed steam into the distribution system. This plant was commissioned in the spring of 1963. When the Central Electricity Generating Board, who took over the Upper Boat Power Station on nationalisation of the electricity supply industry after the War, gave notice that the Station would cease to operate continuously, the Welsh Industrial Estate Corporation built its own central boiler plant to feed steam into the distribution system. This plant was commissioned in the spring of 1963. The CEGB having kept the station for intermittent use for a few years finally demolished the buildings in 1976 and the site was acquired by the Welsh Development Agency (successors to WIEC) for extension land for the Treforest Industrial Estate.

Reference: Records of the Wales & Monmouthshire Industrial Estate Ltd, Glamorgan Archives, ref: GB/NNAF/C119473
RCAHMW, 2011.