THERMAL STEAM FOR POWER: TESTS IN FINAL STAGES

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 September 1950, Page 3

THERMAL STEAM FOR POWER: TESTS IN FINAL STAGES

AUCKLAND, Sept. 29 (P.A.).—lnvestigations at Wairakei into the use of geothermal steam for ‘generating electric power are entering their final stage before a report is made to the Government about Christmas time.

The most spectacular occurrence recently has been the blowing of a deep six-inch diameter bore near the junction of the Taupo, Rotorua and Atimauri highways. This produced a high jet of steam from 900 feet down, accompanied by roaring and rumbling and showers of pumice dust and small stones which coated the ground and vegetation for some distance. Even some of those accustomed to the formidable ways of bores admitted that this was a frightening experience. Steam has been encountered already in a number of bores. However, the fact that it is fairly close underground, ready to be tapped almost at will, is probably of less importance now than the quantity available. For this reason, significance is attached to the start that has just been made on the drilling of further holes in a very short radius of the 900-foot bore. Elsewhere on the line surveyed through the centre of the Wairakei area, drilling rigs have been moved to new sites, leaving capped bores behind them to complete the chain of investigations needed. Other studies on the ground are proceeding unobstrusively, and an aerial gravitation survey has been made with an airborne magnetometer mounted in a Miles Aerovan.