THE ELECTRIC AGE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 3 January 1928, Page 8

THE ELECTRIC AGE.

BRITAIN’S POWER SCHEME. SUPER POWER ZONE. The electric age hats been a long tim coming to Britain. But the announce merit recently of the main outline o the scheme prepared for a ‘super powe zone’ ’ in South-Eastern EngWnd bring it appreciably nearer. The scbeiii deals with ah area of nearly 900 square mileis, and will eventually fori part of a linking-up scheme, embiracm, the whole, of Great Britain. By every method of eomp arusor London, which is covered hy the nei scheme, has bean singularly hhokwar in the development of electricity. .Th multipla cation of small undertaking and" the high cost of .power resutin from uneconomic conditions of suppl have b?en responsible for the slow, rat of growth. The new scheme, by intrc during large scale production throug the elimination of such undertakings as far a® power generation is concern ed. should effect a revolution in powfi process in a few years. London has moved far slower tha Paris, is far behind Chicago, and sti further behind New York. Paris, afte three companies had gained contrc ovim the area , showed an increase c 200 per cent, in the period, 1920-6 from a total of 535,000,000 units t 1,560,000,000 units. New York, aJread b :g.hly developed, almost doubled it output over the period 1919-26, th 1926 totaii. being 7,100,000,000 units Chicago has shown an evpn higher rat of expansion. On the other lianc London only doubled its output in ri vears, ' and the present figuiw 1.600,000,000 units, is merely equal t that recorded for Paris, half that c Chicago and less than a fourth of tha of Now York. According to. the nc scheme, London will have reiache 6,000,000,000 units by 1940. . Thus, if Britain lias lagged an elei tricity because she led in steam, th arrears are now being overtaken- Th first .area in. which, the Electricit Board began work was Central SooT land. It has now turned to the Sontl its most difficult problem. The Horn Counties area is densely populated, an in its electrical supply badly orgamsec There iis a wide range of ’ industries with frequent changes caused by ne 1 developments and migration from els< Where. Thewhole tendency of th moment, it isT said, is for the centre < industrial gravity to move south again Within the present scheme its comprise an area going as far noi’th as Peter borough and Bedford, and a.s fair ©out as Brighton. More than a qiiarter < tiie population of Great Britain is ir eluded, covering the 'whole of the ir dust rial south, and a great area- c farm land. THE ULTIMATE AIM. Some day Britain will be irrigate with cheap power through one co-ordn atecl system of main transmission line feeding a subsidiary network. Th basic principles of the present sectio of the great scheme will he iimitatio of production to a few .selected genei ating stations - with .a low fuel cor sumption and high operating efficiency th© construction of super-power eta tions to meet future expansion, an. The construction of extra high-pressur transmission lines radiating from th main system, to supply the vast dis tribution network already in existence Mid to tap new and undeveloped areas The South-Eastern super-power zone the one now to he developed, will ex tend over 120 miles, and. will lnclud the whole of Kent, with its new coal fields. More than 100 generating sta tions, from tiny plant aggregating 10 horse-power to modern super-powe' ■stations, as at Barking and TDpptfowl developing more than 2(X),000 hors power, have been scattered without sys tom or method over the region Eev of them are inter-connected and few o them can generate power at all cheapl; or effectively. These gfeneratmg .sta Hons will he reduced to lfi, and a eys tem of overhead transmission lines, oi toel lattice towers, will convey curiyn -it a pressure of 132,000 volts. It t estimated that by 1934, the cost to th Board and the owners of the gener atinc stations, will have amounted .t< more than. £12,000,000, but a savin? of £1,500,000 a year on generatin' costs is expected. The. .result, too,.ac cordinw to the Electricity Commission ers’ caleid.ations, will be to. reduce th< average cost of electricity in the are: from 2.2 d a unit to 1.25di a unit. Bu that will not he until 1940. There wil also he a considerable reduction in th. quantity of coal used for generation"WlLL FOGS GO? It iis now proposed to construct tw< riant power stations .at Battersiea am Chiswick, as well as a .smaller stahoi in the north, and to select 13 station, out, of the total already in existence retain temporarily 15, and ultimate!? Z close down 107 stations. By 1?4( toe capacity of all stations, inoludim rid it ions and extensions, should b< about 3.500,000 horse-power ' one fourth of the total contemplati-d foi be this South-Eastern super-powe zoneimav bring to reality the concep tion of Britain as a Single economu " n Tn T,ondon there is another aspecfbat ha" appealed to the T*>pulai mind Through the diminished eon "motion of coal. owing to the, concen traction of electricity tW m™ ber of better placed stations, wren 1,7 a . noticeable lessening rvf Tv on of the atmosphere. When electiu Hto has definitely taken the vtoce o oonl in the domestic hearth, we 1 Win at last to nart company -U + i- a worst: of the London tass. T*a alone should he a social fact oi th. first magnitude.