POWER PROJECTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 219, 16 September 1938, Page 4

POWER PROJECTS.

DEVELOPMENT PLAN. WORK AT WAIKAREMOANA. NEW UNITS AT ARAPUNI. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WFLLI N< ;TO-V, Thursday. An outline of undertakings which arc being carried out by the Public Works Department in connection with the supply of electricity in different parts of Xew Zealand was given l>y the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, speaking at the annual conference of the Electric Power Boards and Supply Authorities' Association of New Zealand to-day. The Minister referred in particular to the provision which was being made for a new 45,000 k.w. generating station, which would be constructed below the present site at Waikaremoana. The work would necessitate a tunnel a milo and a half long.

Other works included the installation of two new unite of 21,000 k.w. each at Arapuni, and a new unit of 15,000 k.w., which was being installed at the existing power station at Waikaremoana. Two new units of 15,000 k.w. had been ordered for Waitaki. A main transmission line of 110,000 volts was being constructed between Arapuni and the Hay of Plenty, and a similar line was beiiijr provided to interconnect Moiling and Masterton. and thw would make a third line to Wellington. A main transmission line of 66.000 volts was being constructed between Coleridge and West Coa«t (Arahura). and a similar line was being put through between Arahura and Blackwater. A main transmission Jine of 110,000 volte between Duncrtin and Gore would interconnect the Waitaki and Southland systems. To provide for further growth of load, said the Minister, preliminary work in hand included the duplication of the existing 11.000 volts line between Napier and Woodville, and the erection of further double-circuit 110,000-volt line* between Arapuni and Auckland, and between Arapuni and Bunnythorpe, via Main Trunk towns. Investigation was being carried out for eS further power site on the banks of the Waikato River above Cambridge, where it was hoped to install a plant with a capacity for 00,000 k.w.

Increased Use of Power. The Minister gave details of the amount of electricity supplied by the Public Works Department during the past three years, and also of the progress made generally. The Minister said that between March 31, 1935, and March 31, 1938, 1,250.000,000 units of power were generated, the increase being 30 per cent. Hanges installed totalled 64,408 (an increase of 02 per cent), water heaters, 77,353 (44 per cent), and milking machines 22,711 (32 per cent). There were 342.334 consumers in 1935 and 388,580 in 1938, the increase being 13 per cent. Capital invested by the Publio Works Department in various undertakings for the supply of electricity amounted to £12.903,410 in 1935, and by 1938 had increased to £15,536,029 (an increase of 20 per cent). Supply authorities had invested £19.920,534 by 1935. and this had increased to £19.991.313 during the three years under review. The total amount invented by the Department and supply authorities "wae £35,527.342. "The fact that the capital investment of the Public Works Department has increased by 20 per cent, while that of the supply authorities shows little increase," said the Minister, "is due to the faet that during the period under review the capital expenditure of the old Southland Power Board on its power plant and distribution, and the power plant of the Grey River Board have been taken over by the Government, thus increasing the capital expenditure of the Department and reducing that of supplv authorities."