SUPER-POWER.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 12 July 1924, Page 11

SUPER-POWER.

VAST ELECTRIC PROJECT FOR , AMERICA. V The United States is now engaged upon an enterprise, characteristically big, which seems h'kely to produce in the next few years profound changes in the life of the nation. It is an attempt to unite, the whole of the country’s production and distribution of mechanical energy in a. single system. Already the plan lias been carried a long way towards realisation, writes the New York correspondent of Tiie Times. In the Pacific States an unbroken line of electric power stations stretches for 1200 miles, and presently a similar unbroken line will stretch fur 1600 miles between Canada and Mexico. In part of New England ajid over a group of the Southern States there are other large systems all ready to be a. part of the great articulation And-'but very recently nine light and power companies in ’Pennsylvania organised still another combination of plants which, when the time comes will be fitted into the system. In the south-west there is a plan for putting the errant and destructive Colorado River to work, which will certainly result in the creation of one more system that can be included in the eventual greater union.

It is not clear who originated the idea of a universal system of power, but probably it gradually grew up out of the realisation that there must be co-operation between State whe.n rivers, which have scant respect for'‘political boundaries, were to be utilised to produce electricity or any other form of power. More than that, there had to be co-operation with the Federal Government if rivers were to be dammed for power plants, because all the navigable waters of the country are under ar Department. The Federal Government took no really important action for the encouragement of new power enterprises until about four years ago, when Congress created the Federal Power Commission. In the short time that the commission has been functioning it has issued licenses for the installation of plants for producing 7,509,000 h.p.. and under its authority nlants with a capacity of 2,400,000 h.p. have been built, or are being built. Previously there had been built under Federal authorisation, over a period of 20 years, plants with a capacity of but 1,4(10,009 h.p. in. all.

How vast the development of electric power lias been in recent years can he seen from the fact that, whereas in 1919 the output of all plants in the United States was 38,921.00:) kilowatt hours, l>v 1923 it ha ( J risen to £55,928.000,000 kilowatt hours. In the earlier year 37.5 per cent, of the total output of electric energy was produced by water power, and 62.5 per cent.-by coal and other fuels; but in 1923 the porportion had changed to 35.1 and 64.9 per cent. The .alteration in the ratio is significant. It means, not a diminution in water power enterprises, but an increase at a relatively faster rate of plants producing electricity from coal oil, and other fuels. Garbo-electric plants are of course, generally cheaper to install though not cheaper to maintain. than hydro-electric plants. And not only is coni comparatively inexpensive in the United States, but improvements have been made in the methods of using it so that only 2.41 b. is required to produce a kilowatt hour , of electricity, as against 3.21 b. in 19*19.