NEW POWER PLANT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 103, 4 May 1931, Page 3

NEW POWER PLANT.

KING'S WHARF STATION. EXTENSIONS ALMOST COMPLETE. TRIAL RUN IN FEW DAYS.

In a few days the new 10.000-kilowatt plant, which has been installed at the King's wharf power station to guard against any shortage of power in Auckland city and suburbs, will be undergoing preliminary trials. The station will then have a generating capacity of 41,600kw., as compared with 26.000kv,. to-day. The last of the new plant will arrive by the Westmoreland from Liverpool to-morrow, and it ie expected that within a fortnight everything will be in readiness for the additions to the station to be linked up as a valuable adjunct to the general system of electrical supply. The extensions, which were embarked upon by the Auckland Power Board immediately following the breakdown of the Arapuui hydro-electric scheme, will cost about £150,000, but that they are absolutely necessary is demonstrated by the fact that last week the demand;; made upon the present station exceeded the actual generating capacity by 2100 kw.

Most Modern Plant. The new plant consists primarily of a large turbine and generator, two giant boilers and a condenser. The machinery is of the latest type, and is capable of turning over at the rate of 3000 revolutions a minute. It will be operated independently of the other units, having its own auxiliary engines and feed and cooling systems. The generating machinery is identical with the units already in use, but the boilers are larger and of an improved type. Each is capable of evaporating So,ooolb of water an hour, as against 45,0001b in the boilers at present in use, although the floor space occupied by each type of boiler is the same. The increased capacity of the new equipment k obtained by an addition in height and greater efficiency in heating power. The chute which feeds the furnace with coal moves automatically in a transverse manner. The result is that the fuel is distributed very evenly, and gives better combustion. Extensive alterations have been made to the fuel conveyers serving the boiler house,, and two extra pumps have been installed to bring sea water from the harbour into the power station to cool the steam in the condensere.

Penrose to Close Down. When the plant is in operation, the Government sub-station at Penrose will be closed down, and the three Diesel generating sets, which have a capacity of 3750 k.w., will be transferred to Christchurch in order to relieve the power shortage at Lake Coleridge. This plant was installed to ensure a continuity of supply for the Auckland district when delay was caused in bringing Arapuni in owing to difficulty at the powerhouse site. It was originally intended to complete the extensions to the King's wharf station by the end of last March, and this would have been accomplished had not some of the equipment arrived in wrong sequence. The work, nevertheless, has been carried out with dispatch, as may be gauged from the fact that the first of the machinery did not arrive until laet November.