ELECTRIC POWER.

Marlborough Express, Volume LIV, Issue 127, 1 June 1920, Page 3

ELECTRIC POWER.

DEVELOPMENT IN ENGLAND

AN EXPERT INTERVIEWED.

AUCKLAND, May 22

The development of electricity in Britain during and subsequent, to the war was the subject of an interview with. Sir Arnold Gridley (now visiting Auckland),-who up to the time he left England was chief electrical officer to the Imperial Government. "My experience,"-said the visitor, "has been with steam-driven plants, and those driven by exhaust steam and waste gases. In all, we had 600. electrical power undertakings under control in the Kingdom of a probable value of £500,000,000. To give you an idea of what development in the generation of electricity the war brought about, the output increased fvom 2,000,000,000 units in 1914 to 4.000,000,000 units in 191S—a development in four years equal to the previous thirty-two years' electrical growth in Great Britain. In 1914 the generating plants of Great Britain' were producing 1,100,000 kilowatts, in 1918 the 2,000,000 mark had been reached, so that it may be said that the electric age has been forced upon the> world by the war. "Our job was to see that all the plant* were kept running. There were no such things as stand-bys or reserves anywhere. If a plant did happen to break down, the people had to go without light in their homes—the munition works had to be kept going, no matter who suffered. "The biggest individual source of simply in the Kingdom was the Newcastle Electric Supply Co. (at New-custle-on-Tyne), which produced 563,----000,000 units per annum by coal, steam, steam exhausts, and waste gases. All round Newcastle and Middlesborough are big steel works, and formerly exhaust steam in considerable quantities and waste gases from the blast furnaces were' allowed to blow off into the air. Now- they are tapped for service. The steam from exhausts is led into turbines coupled with generating sets and the gases'are .fed .to furnaces instead of coal. "A company, of which I was formerly a director, had\a plsjat which produced .120.000,000,. iTmts■■ ..a, ■■ year,and its coal bill was £800. How was it done? Well, we got permission to measure the steam exhausts and waste gas from a group of steel companies, and armed with this data, we were able to go to the companies and, in return for what they were giving the air, to offer them electric power at 2d., a royalty on the unit output, and also return them the water used for condensation purposes." Sir Arnold Gridley also stated thaiall the firms engaged in the manufacture of electrical plants at Home were full of work, and likely to be for a few years to come, not. only to supply orders which could not be fulfilled during the Avar period, but to provide plant i for fresh developmental work all over the world. Speaking of the future. Sir Arnold wild the Electricity Bill passed by the House of Cpmmons at the end of last year provided for the appointment of five electricity commissioners, the function of whom should ho to direct and guide the future * development of pqwer mraoly on national instead of parochial'lines. The general object of the new scheme was to do 'away with all small and uneconomical stations, to maintain, and, if necessary, to extend the larger stations at present in existence, and in future to establish power-houses at least twice the size of any existing to-day in Great Britain. So far,as the generation of power is concerned it is now possible for a large number of municipalities to group themselves in order to promote the big scheme or for companies and municipalities to combine for a similar -purpose. As the scheme definitely develops the intention is that new .power-houpo traiismivssion lines will be provided, that the railways will be electrified anywhere in the country by the simple process of tipping the transndssion cables, nnd that the cities and the rural, districts will be able to obtain si- good supply of cheap power. ■ . ' ".' ■"•. '■'■,- ■■ . v '■■-■ Sir Arnold 'purposes visiting * all , the power staitiqns:,.inv New - Zealand^ and wherever -possible", to .inspect pro-' posed sites". 7for. the ~;.main;.: po.'^er stations to be erected under "ihe Government's hydro-alectric scheme.