CHEAP POWER

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 145, 22 June 1922, Page 8

CHEAP POWER

HOW TO SECURE IT

VICTORIA'S GREAT EXAMPLE

JTARANAKrS BIG POTENTIALITIES,

" In the years to como General Sir John Monash will be renowned as much for his engineering services to Australia us he will be for the distinguished part ■Mr played', in .tho Great War as comof the Australian Forces." This was expressed to a Post reporter vto-day by-Mr.,.T. G. List, president of -tho 'i'aranaki". Chamber of Commerce, "-who returned from a visit to Australia, -yesterday. • •■ '•■ ,

,; "J- had the privilego of two inier■views with' Sir John whilst in Mel.'bouriie, and.gained from hini'"an idea of /the', great electrical scheme on which is engaged, and which is likely in the near future to placo Victoria in ■a. foremost position amongst the Austra--lasio'n States as a manufacturing coun-.'l>-y,".said Mr. List. I was anxious to obtain the information first hand for the benefit, of my own province, which has immense-, coal-lresource's, at present lying "undeveloped!'1 at'.tho ;Mokau and in tho ■•jOhiira. The coai at Mokau cau be mined ■very cheaply indeed. It is only a question of tunnellings from the riverside, 'no shafts being required. Water in fabtuidance —that from the Mokau River f—is alongside, and a big supply of water is required for the. generating of electricity, from coal. In the Ohura coal is outcropping in tho hills from the Wai4 t;uvhena. Valley right through to the ■Tangarakau Gorge, roughly, some thirty .miles.-. Literally the hills there are full M coal, all, too, of a quality particularly suited for steam purposes, and .twice as rich, calorifically, as the brown -.^oals of Victoria. ' SOLUTION OF IRONSAND ; .' ' PROBLEM. ;. " New;. Plymouth, as you probably lvsow, is now engaged upon a very am- > bilious hydro-electric scheme, or, I .should say, upon the extension of the •present scheme. By tho end of the present year'3ooo additional h.p. will bo .available, and when completed _thero .will be a further 6000 h.p., making a lulal of over 9000 h.p., sufficient to sup.ply the whole province for some years. •The English engineering company of John Summersonand Sons, however, desi io to treat Taranaki ironsand by electricity, which must be .provided at a very cheap rate to make the industry .economically possible. Though our hydro-electricity is, and will be, as cheap as any provided in New Zealand, it is •.'not cheap enough for tho English iron- , masters desirous of establishing works in New Plymouth, and their representative ■-/Mr. Leggatt), who has been in New for some time, has been giving ot the conversion of our coal ■-into electricity at the coalfield itself, and ■ sending the power into New Plymouth.1 ■Ho has-indicated publicly that by this .means power can be obtained at a price ■that will make the treatment of Tara"naki ironsand possible. "THE GREAT MORWELL SCHEME. .' "What he suggests, is to be done by ■-Victoria, where there are immense de!po?its of brown coal. The Electricity of which Sir John Monash Ms'chairman, carefully studied the whole .■question ..of the,,provision of. electricpu'wer for the State, investigating the water resources as well as the coal; and. as a result, decided in favour of tho i-uui. Tho coalfield is at Morwell, about ninety miles, from Melbourne, where boring has proved the existence of 150,00Q,000 tons of coal, which can be won by the open-cut method of operation, whilst nearby is an area estimated to contain 20,000,000,000 tons. The- earth on top ia -; about 33ft thick, ■ a'hd has only to be removed and the coal dug out by mechanical means, lift-, etl to travelling tips, and conveyed to the furnaces, thus eliminating,. manual labour with all its troubles and expense. The cost of winning the coal is estimated at 2s 3d per ton delivered at the powerhouse, based on an' output of 2000 tons per eight hours day. "Newcastle coal is costing in Melbourne at present nearly £2 per ton. Its calorific power is two and a-half times- that of brown coal, but at 2s 3d a ton the latter, obviously, has a great advantage over Newcastle, upon which Melbourne is now dependent. At present the importations of New South 'Waies' coal "amount to 450,000 tons per annum. -Victoria is aiming to be indeOeiiUcnl of New South Wales supplies as far as possible, for the continuous increases in cost of coal and freight have reacted seriously on the industrial de'.velopmont of Victoria, and correspondingly been beneficial to the older Sfate. The competition of. the Morwell scheme a.'ssnres Victoria of a source of energy capable of satisfying all possible reqaire■menls for generations to come at low rates. '■ ' MINIMUM COST OF POWER. ■ "The cost of generating is estimated ,at a little over a halfpenny per unit, fallowing the power to be supplied to ;iarge users at about three farthings. At rpresent the large power consumer is .paying an average price between 0.825 d and ~l;Sd per unit, depending on the ■load factor of his demand and the quantity of energy consumed. It is estimated that the cost of generating and supplying power is not less than Id per unit, the difference being made up by the higher rates charged lighting consumers, which varies from 4d to s|d per unit. ■ ''Tho present works provide for the generating, of 62,500 kilowatts, provision being made for adding as circumstances ] demand!" The present Newport plant, which will use Morwell coal or briquettes., will act as a booster to the main supply. The cost of opening up the coalfield; providing the electrical system, building the township, and providing a briquetting plaint is estimated at just under I three millions sterling. ; " Sir John Monash expects to be able to commence suplying power in about a year's time. , Briquettes will also bo available then. This by-product has big possibilities. The Germans have achieved pre.it results with tho briquetting of thoir inferior coals, and a plant, to bo erected and run for a time by skilled German mechanics, is to be erected with a capacity of 70 tons per day, which, it is expected, can be sold at less than 20s per ton in Melbourne. The briquettes, it is hoped, will be used instead of the dearer Newcastle coal. "FRAUGHT WITH GREAT POSSI- - BILITIES." Sir John Monash has around him an enthusiastic staff, aorxl already considerable progress has been made at the works, which entail the diversion of a river, the construction of conduits, the. making of a township (which is being built on townplanning principles), the erection of brickworks, the building of a. branch railway, etc. The overburden on the coalfield is now being dng out by steam shovels, loaded into a conveyor-roll, and conveyed to a stacker, preparatory to digging out the coal, the average thickness of which is 174 ft. The Gensral is adopting the same methods in respect of Iht' enterprise as he no successfully cuijployefl iv the war—carefully selecting jiis' lieutenants, aiyl giving them initia,-

tive and power, planning and perfecting his campaign, and then pushing through with it with the utmost energy.

"The scheme is fraught with great possibilities, and its fruition must confer great advantages upon Melbourne as an industrial centre. Already it is more than holding its own with comparatively dear power; when the cheap power is available, it must leave N.S W. completely in the rear from a manufacturing point of view. That, at least, is my opinion.'1