HYDRO STATION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 35, 21 November 1939, Page 6

HYDRO STATION

EARLY START AT HIGHBANK.

HUGE TASK FOR ENGINEERS. « PRELIMINARY WORK ALMOST COMPLETE. Within the next ten days the work of constructing the access road to the top of the terrace on the bank of the Raknia River, where the new hydroelectric. generating station is to be built, will be put in hand. This will be the first actual work on the scheme, as far as the public are concerned, and in the next few months there will ho increasing activity in the locality.

In the meantime, however, a vast amount of work has been carried out by the engineers of the public Works Department, under the direction of Mr T. G. Beck (Irrigation Engineer to the Department), who has charge of the irrigation schemes in Canterbury, and whose suggestion it was that the water from the main diversion race from the Rangitata River should be taken right across the County and spilled down the terrace face to drive generators.

In a telephone conversation with a “Guardian” reporter this morning, Mr Beck, from" his office at Temuka, said that the bulk of the planning for the station/ had been completed. The engineers had been carrying out detailed surveys for months and the drawing of the plans was in itself a great task. It was in this advance stage that all the thinking and planning had to be done, and this had been given the closest attention.

There was not a great deal to be done now, he said, but as soon as everything was done on paper a start with the “elbow” work would he made.

The site for the new station, is an ideal one. It is at the foot of the high terrace on the south side of the river, and the station will go a. long way in overtaking the heavy loading that has been placed on the existing generating stations in winter.

Apart from the fact that the station will he the location of the largest generating unit ever set up in New Zealand, it will! be extraordinarily economical in operation, and it is understood that it will he of the automatic type. The machines will run ,on their own, requiring the attendance of engineers at intervals only, in the ordinary course, and indicating at a distance should anything go wrong. The tender of Metropolitan Vickers, Ltd., for the generating unit for the station was accepted by the Government several months ago, and the machinery will be delivered before the middle of next winter. By that time, it is hoped, the building will he sufficiently advanced to house the unit The Department has laid it down that the station will be in operation from May 1, 1941.

Because the limit of the demand for irrigation water under the Rangitata scheme is not expected to he reached for at least 10 years after its inception, Highbank will develop power in both summer and winter. In the winter months only, however, will a full load be developed.