STAND-BY POWER PLANTS

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26477, 19 July 1951, Page 8

STAND-BY POWER PLANTS

RICCARTON BOROUGH VIEWS EFFECT ON UNIT PRICE The Riccarton Borough Council on Monday received a letter from the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, asking for the views of the council on the installation of stand-by electrical generating equipment “in the event of the Government failing to install suitable alternative generating plant” The council approved the draft of a letter which will be sent to the association by the Town Clerk (Mr R. Sarjeant). The main points of the draft were as follows:

A stand-by plant large encugh to make the Riccarton borough independent of hydro-electric power would require an engine of 3750 horsepower, and the capital and running costs of such an engine would treble the unit price to the consumer. Processing and other large industries should all have stand-by plants. All new homes should have an alternative fuel service providing emergency space heating, cooking facilities, and water heating. The householder should bear the responsibility of obtaining fuel when obtainable in the summer for use during the winter. In this way every resident in a local authority’s area would be providing his own stand-by plant, not with machinery, but by returning to the methods obtaining before the advent of hydroelectric power. The general adoption of such a policy would tend to reduce the rate of growth of electricity demand, which would be more in keeping with the country’s capacity to provide hydroelectric works. It would lead to an increased demand in the summer, when water was plentiful, and a reduced demand in the winter.. . It would enable the supply authorities to maintain a reasonable price for power. A small beginning had already been made by the Riccarton Borough Council in prohibiting the connexion of new water-heaters where there was no alternative means of heating water. No permanent good would result, however, until the department moved in the same direction : nd controlled the growth of demand throughout New Zealand.