ELECTRIC POWER

Hokitika Guardian, 12 June 1937, Page 7

ELECTRIC POWER

PLANT FOR DOBSON. Because they are too large to la taken through the railway tunnels am. too heavy to be handled by? an ordinary ship’s derrick, the four generating stn tors of the diesel electric power plain wjiich is being shifted from Lyttelto* to Dobson, on the West Coast, nius be transported by a special steamer. The starters are circular in shape an., nearly sixteen feet, and they weigl about sixteen tons each. They wen originally built for the 2700-ton sub marines of Germany’s Great War nav, which were handed over to the Britis Admiralty at he end of the war.

In 1931 the.generators were installe at Lyttelton to augment the supply o electricity at Lake Coleridge, but th plant is no longer required for tha purpose, and recently it was decided t shift it to the West Cast to assist i meeting the growing demands for powe here. The plant consists of four unit of 1000 kilowatts each.

In addition to the plant, the build ing in which it has been' .housed a Lyttelton is also being shifted to Do' son. The work > of- demolition is 110 V in progress, and the foundations" -0 which it is to be’re-erected at Dobso-. are in course of construction. Th. erection of an entirely mew budding a Dobson was considered by the Puhli Works Department,- but the cast woul have been much greater, and it wa also found that considerably delay v would take place before su]>plies 0 hardwood timber for the beams an columns to support the twp twenty toil cranes could be obtained. The whole of the plant has now bee dismantled and packed ready for re inoval to Dobson as soon as the build ing is re-erected. The stators and th rotors will be sent to Greymouth b steamer, and railed from Greymout) to Dobson and the remainder of th plant and materials for the buildiim will he transported by fail. It is expected that the diesel plan will be in operation at Dobson w’tlii four months if nothing unforseen de lays the work.

The power supply for the West Cons is to be further augmented by th transmission of power from the Wa taki Coleridge system. The work 0 erecting the transmission line is nov in progress, but. great difficulty is he in" exper'enced in securing po'es. Stee towers will carry the transmission lin "ver Arthurs Pass, and the material have already been carted fo most of th tower sites, and half of the foundation are ready.