SEVERE DAMAGE DONE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21581, 7 December 1944, Page 6

SEVERE DAMAGE DONE

p'cAver station fire MONOWAI OUTBREAK (P.A.) INVERCARGILL, Dec 6. Severe damage was done by fre to the main generator switchboard at the Monowai power station on Monday afternoon, since when the whole of Southland has beqn supplied by electricity from the Waitaki stavion, Which will continue to provide power until repairs have been completed at Monowai. . , . By 9 o’clock on Tuesday night, a 2000-kilowatt generator had been brought into operation at Monowai, but it will be some days before the full load' is restored. In the meantime it may be necessary to_ curtail the power in certain parts of Southland. The fire at Monowai occurred at 2,50 p.m. on Monday. Trouble had been experienced on the South Island system, Waitaki being. affected. Later the system was restored to normal and while Monowai was operating as usual failure occurred in No. 1 generator when it was carrying a full load. Burning oil discharged on to the back of the switchboard, causing damage to all the control apparatus and destroying the instrument wiring and the control circuits and also set fire to the roof. Prompt action was taken by the engineer in charge, who disconnected the station from the South Island system, sounded the alarm, and immediately attacked the fire with the foam equipment. The outbreak was soon under control, but not before a lair amount of damage was done. It is believed that lightning further north was a contributing cause ■if the trouble. There was no interruption to the power for Invercargill.