HYDRO-ELECTRICITY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 23, 28 January 1924, Page 7

HYDRO-ELECTRICITY

MANGAHAO AND KHANj DALLAH STATIONS PROGRESS OF TRANSMISSION LINES STATEMENT BY CHIEF ELEO-- ; TRICAL ENGINEER. Several, months ago, trie Minister! of Public Works stated that it was hoped^ that tie Mangahao hydro-electric works would be completed by June next. That is still the aim of. the Minister, and every effort is being made to have the works completed as near that date as possible; but' in the case of this, asm other classes of contract work,' un-'

foreseen circumstances sometimes occur ■ to postpone the. final date of comple> T , tion, which it is hoped will not extend to more than a briet period beyond the date mentioned by the Minister Work is being pushed on as rapidly as possible, both at the head station, at- - the sub-stations, and along the various lines which will supply power and light to the districts to be served from Mangahao. The erection of the Nvtfodeii..... transmission poles from Shannon to * Paekakariki has been completed, and "■■• > the wires are being placed on them by two gangs.of men, working from bothj. ends —the Public Works gang from the ' northern end and the gang of the contractors, Messrs. P. B. Baillie and Co!, from the southern end. In addition, the steel towers for the W|rk over the hill froni Khandallah to Paekakariki, are arriving, and their (Section has been commenced. —. A considerable proportion of the plant ": for the \Mangahao powerhouse has arrived, and the balance has been.shipped. The contractor is proceeding, with the construction of the Khandallah sub- J station, in (which the pressure will be ■ reduced from 110,000 vplts to 11,000;' volts fov supply to the city and 'to the.""' Hutt Valley. <" „-'■ The Government Chief Electric En-1' gineer, Mr.-L. Birks, has just completed .. an inspection of the main transmission line from Mangahao to Napier, and-- of' the sites for sub-stations, the survey" work for which is finished. The Department will now immediately proceedwith the laying of the poles along tha" route. The line is being laid out as'part of the ultimate Waikaremoana-' Wellington 'transmission- system, and • will have a full capacity of 18,000 horse- ■' power, the minimum power for which: • the 110,000 volt lines ar e designed. It was recently stated at a .meeting of the Tararua Power Board that on the occasion of a recent visit of a depu- ' tation to Wellington, Mr. Birks had shown the members a schedule covering all the branches of work, the schedule indicating that power would be at Mangamaire on 26th August, but there-. were, of course, contingencies to be taken into account. This statement refera to Mangamaire only, and not to Wellington, the preparations for which . are ahead of those for Mangamaire.1 ADVANTAGES OF POWER SUPPLY.:.: In the course^of an address to repre-, sentatives of local bodies at Hastings qir■'■• Friday last, Mr. L. Birks dwelt" on the subject of. hydro-electrical power, its possibilities and advantages, particularly . as, helping to better industrial and social conditions, and the methods adopted by the Government for its distribution It, was not merely to save money that the ' Government had felt justified^! adopting hydro-electric schemes, although that' was important, but they were looking to hydro-electricity to effect great changes m the industrial and social life of the people. L*ke Coleridge was tried first' and that scheme had proved a very great success. The measure of success was not so much its financial results as the demand it had created in its own " district, which was so great that, al- : though they were supplying 12,00 horsepower, provision was being made to hw'crease it to 26,000. The Christchurch" ." City Council said that even that was not '"' sufficient, and was battling for th 6 WaiTpp'nnKf 16 --' "hich had a capacity ' of 22,000 horse-power. i : BENEFITS FOR COUNTRY DIS- '^ TRICTS. * - Mr. Birks touched upon the import-, ance of power to country people -lit" the city it replaced the steam or the 7" ' gas engine, but in the country it re-"" placed not only kerosene and candles but human labour. The great problem the man in the country had to face was tile domestic problem, to make the " country home as attractive to his family - as the city home. By the introductionof electricity labour could be reduced y°, 0!??i lalf. and, th at was the fundamental difference that power was goins-to'" make to the country housewife. Elee- ".- tncity had been developed in New Zea- ' ' land for many years, but so far it had only^been developed for giving more con- " venience to those who had .already *"T superabundance of them. It paid best' — - in the city because there -were-more'con- •" sumers there per mile, but" the benefits ...; which resulted from its development was""" very much greater in the couatrv/riot''"' only in a social sense but in a business sense as well, because it enabled the products of the, country to bo increased and to be prepared for marketing under- - better conditions. In the early stage's " of the war, wlien so many had a difficulty ' in getting labour and talked" of livinV ",'- ---in the towns, they /were frequently :toT(i.i,;. by country people that if they could «ab ■ ' electrical current they would carry en. They had to try and fret the power into ' the country for the sake of keeping the " people there. The boroughs lived on the -country. The Year Book showed that for every family living jn a borough there should be one in the country, unless secondary industries were inerensed. It - was therefore to the advantage of tha -•" ' town ratepayer, who depended for Jus v income upon the produce of the farms •■"•■ that lie should get that family settled ;: in the country. ": --- -■ In 1918 the Power Board Act;"waß --;: passed. That <rave full authority" to " boards to distribute the power, to spend " ■■' the necessary money for the purpose, and ■ to raise any deficiency they might have by the imposition of a rate. Not that, "• any deficiency was expected, because ex- ;'■'• penence had shown that of the fifteen '-'.-i authorities originally taking the currentfrom Lake Coleridge thirteen were-mak-■<" ing a profit and only two. a loss!" "All""' the installations at the end of two years"" were making a profit, and the net-pre-'" ftt m Canterbury was £30 000 ■ The ■ ' prices would be determined by ' cost " No selling price was specified, "because-?■ they knew a board would sell as cheaply" as passible. . - Sv . Tlio essence in increasing the power ' was in reducing the cost.: At Lake " Coleridge they started with 2000 horse- . i power generating units'*' at Maugahao they would start with 6000 horsepower ". generating units, and at Arapuni (Auckland) tenders were called for units of ' 20,000 horsepower capacity. - It would -: | cost no more -in attendance to run the- . largest of these units than the smallest. • In order to cut down the cost to enable ■ them to supply, hydro-electricity-fey in- ;- dustries at Id per unit and for domestic. BMJEPAeS aiJ&JjHE gejjergkf, _&&v;

"organisation, and distribution had to be ' as large. If they were going to de'.velop -industries., the price they,, had to" ainT'.itt. va.s l,d for industrial purposes and'2d; for domestic. The average price in -Dtmedin was 1.39 d per unit, and in. ..Chfist'church 1.66 d. In Tauranga, where '■ :they;.ha'cj. a good little plant, the pr,ice |was" 1.09 d. for everything. The important point was, of course, the average-price-Jor-^the whole output, and taking ' 50 'peifceent. as a fair average output the'GroVernment price wag something .■und&r ld°;per unit. On top of that, o£ icourte, the distribution charges had to toe added* . Dealing'"with the question of a stand*ty Birks said any power '■transmitted any distance was liable to interruption, but in the eight years that Lake Coleridge scheme had been running^ the total interruptions did not exceed eight hours, and nearly all of SthemTwere after midnight. The quesition"of ,a,»tand-by was not an important one,; -and- need not be considered.