CITY POWER

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 77, 31 March 1920, Page 5

CITY POWER

"IDEAL SCHEME" NOT ! ENDORSED EXTENSION OF PRESENT PLANttj IMPORTANT DECISION! OF CITY "' COUNCIL. '

"The ideal scheme, -would.be toreredij a new station and build up a new under- j taking. I am. quite confident that thatsf is the ideal scheme." Thus-the Mayor, j Mr. J. P. Luke, at a special-meeting of 3 the City Council held last night for the? purpose of considering, the. city's supply^ "■ of electric power. However, the councils did not adopt the "ideal scheme,"- but* endorsed a supplementary, report from{ the City Engineer (Mr,. W. H, Morton;,! and decided on immediate extensions ton the existing'plant in. Harris-street at »| .'■ cost roughly estimated at- £180,000. (Mil late the council has freely discussed the? policy it intended to pursue in this mat- • ter, and it has been stated that opinions* have been very divided, not only among i the councillor themselves, but among! the council's experts. ■ , ■ Before the council went into, committee j last night the Mayor appealed to couu-j ; cillors not to. leave the room .'without; deciding upon a definite policy for thai future. Nothing should prevent thei council from, pursuing actively a scheme! necessary for both the. tramway and,'! electric lighting undertaking*. It wouldbe some time before the Government's i hydro-electric power would \be available,,' and in the meantime the, growth" of- the \ ■ city put a responsibility- on the council j which the council must be 'prepared to' : shoulder. They could not wait for the; scheme to materialise and so hinder thei city's development. It must be patent']' to everybody because of the numerous j .. disturbances in the tramway system that something definite should-be done at the' earliest possible moment. The councilthen had before it sufficient informationfrom the engineers to come to a decision, which would not only bring relief, but; would make provision for the growth and' extension of the city of Wellington me ■ every direction. In answer to Councillor it. A. Wright,,' the Mayor stated that the council had' to decide whether the plant of the Har-; i"is-street station should be.increased nob' only to meet the requirements of'to-day,; but to make it suitable as a stand-by-plant in the future, or a new station:, erected on another site altogether." CITY ENGINEER'S REPORT. ', The council adopted the following report presented by the City Engineer, and endorsed by Messrs. M. Cable and 1 G. Laughlan (electrical engineers) :— "In order to settle the differences, of opinion whicK. existed in connection , the advisability of purchasing new generating machinery for the supply, of electric power and for lighting in" tha city, the engineer of the lighting department and the engineer of the tramway, department have, during the last ievf days, been in conference on this, matter, •md yesterday they, with myself, discussed the various matters in connection. ' with the proposal, in order to comei to a unanimous and .final conclusion foe th.9 guidance of the council. "After dealing exhaustively with thei whole position, it has been found -that the most essential requirement at. pror sent is the provision of'additional machinery, and it has also been'unanimous-' " ly decided that additional machinery -, might be provided in the present electrio . „ lighting station in a 1 periodl' of about; . eighteen ■ months, whereas, if it- was decided 'to. select, another , site, .the_. pro-.; liability is that such machinery would not be available for, say, two and' a. half to three years. The above fact finally,' disposes with all the points on which th»\ ' difference of'opinion existed. ....■■ ■ ' . QUESTION OF ECONOMY. ■ • ' "It is obviously necessary for the cor- ■■■ poration to increase the amount ,of ... power available to consumers, and'for' . tramway purposes at tEe'earliest possible. moment. The; decision come to necessi- , tates the use of the existing boilers, and ■will not permit of' the economies nowobtainable with steam turbines consequent upon increased'pressure and superheat not being obtainable; ' As, however, •it is possible that future hydroelectric development may ultimately re-' quire that this, station shall 'be con- \ sidered merely as an auxiliary station, the necessity^ for obtaining the most economical'plaint may not be considered 'liV of first importance. It should, however, be distinctly understood, in casa any future criticism should be levelled against the station arid the machinery; installed therein, that force of circumstances were such as. to render it advisable to adopt the : less . economical ■ system in" favour of the continuity'of "a . proper satisfactory supply of electrio. " power until, such time as the hydroelectric power is avail-able. THE MACHINERY REQUIRED. "It must, therefore, be clearly understood why this recommendation ia now made. There are, of course, a •number"of matters' which I hnve ; not , touched upon in the.- reports of ■! the engineer of the- lighting ' station ' and tramway department, dealing with the whole matter. These. I think, need not . now be dealt with, although well worthy,, of consideration from an engineeringpoint of view. Both,engineers, with myself, now recommend the. council to purchase and install two 3000 k.w. turbo alternators capable of being used in con- ; nection with the Government hydro-elec-tric scheme, two additional water-tube boilers, '.and two rotary convertors oi ' 1000 k.w. capacity with the necessary; auxiliaries, transformers, switch-gear, and cables. With prices fluctuating ,as at present, it is difficult to form reli- V able estimates. Th»'-probable cost., however, will be about £180,000." WHAT THE DECISION MEANS. ■ When questioned to-day, the Mayor indicated to a Post reporter . thart the matter of extending the Harris-street plant would be treated by the City Coun- .' cil as one of urgency. It would be necessary to raise a loan for'the full.amount, and the ratepayers would be asked to authorise this a's soon as possible. Under ' the scheme, -which was endorsed last night, the whole of the power plant of the city-would be concentrated on. the Harris-street site. That meant that the :' tramway power-house would be abandoned. The plant could not very well bo transferred to Harris-street for it would be necessary to keep it running to its full capacity right up to the time of Hhe change over to the new plant. , The • boilers of the tramway were old and would probably have to be scrapped. It is understood that the City Council was not unanimous in adopting the proposals set out by the City Engineer ia tile above report.