NEW POWER HOUSE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 46, 3 December 1938, Page 2

NEW POWER HOUSE

THE HIGHBANK UNDERTAKING. OPERATION IN 1941 PLANNED. The power station that is to bo erected on the banks of the Rakaia River near Highbank will, according to present plans, be. in operation in the winter of 1941. Because of the necessity for an augmentation of power supply from Canterbury, the construction of the huge irrigation canal across the plains from the Rangitata River to the Rakaia is being expedited and the work will now be completed a year ahead of the original schedule. Although only preliminary plans have been prepared so far, the new power station will be constructed to synchronise with the completion of the irrigation diversion race in July, 1940. No problems of engineering are ahead in the development of tin 1 station, which, with a fall oi water of 300 feet, will develop JO,OOO h.p. or 22,-300 kilowatts. Highbank will probably have one unit. ' The capacity of the units now' installed at \V aitaki is 15,000 kilowatts each. When the diversion of the Rangitata River was plained and begun, its purpose was to provide water for irrigation. The utilisation of the water in winter time for the development of electricity was then proposed. Whqn the race is completed, the Rangitata’s flow will be diverted throughout the year. In the summer, races will draw' off water required for the irrigation of 210,000 acres of land. In the winter, the race gates will be closed and the whole winter fknv of the Rangitata will be turned into the diversion canal along which it will move for 42 miles before discharging down the steep terrace through the turbine in the power-house and out into the Rakaia. Three shifts a day are being worked on the building of the diversion race, and over the whole length of 42 miles a total of 2,900,000 yards of material has to be shifted.

The quantity now shifted is 600,000 tons and .-the last section of the most, difficult country is mow being traversed. This is along the Surrey Hills, rolling down-country, while excavations are being • made below the Rangitata Gorge for the site of the headworks. The construction of the nineteenth mile of race has been entered and four miles and a half are ready to carry water. Above Montalto, three of the major bridges of the 80 which have to be constructed are ready r for service. The gradient mear .'Montalto is steeper 'than, on any other part of the route betw'eem the Rangitata, and Rakaia Rivers and the tendency of the flow to quicken will be checked hy these bridges, down which the power of the water will he dissipated. Completion of Earthworks. By July, 1940, the earthworks will he completed, and the race will be tested for the next three months before the water is turned out of it into the main races, from which the farms will be' supplied from tiributaries and laterals. As soon as the season’s irrigating is over, the Highbank power station will begin generating.

v ‘ ‘The diversion will have a twofold service,” said the Minister for Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple) yesterday afternoon, after he had conferred with engineers at Surrey Hills and received reports of the progress of the scheme. “The farmers will get the cheapest water in the world. The charges will pay interest and sinking fund on the 'undertaking. In addition we will get a further return from electric power developed at the new station. The diversion will he a paying scheme all round—from water in the summer and from electricity in the winter,”. Questioned on the probable design of the power-house, Mr Semple said that the actual lay-out of the station was a small job. The main thing was to press on with the construction of the race to carry the water. “When the end of that is in sight, we will get on with the building of the ‘station,” he said.