BULK POWER FROM THE COBB

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 13 October 1941, Page 2

BULK POWER FROM THE COBB

GOLDEN BAY BOARD S PREPARATIONS £4OOO LOAN TO BE RAISED NEW TRANSMISSION LINE AND SUB-STATION A decision to instruct the en-gineer-manager (Mr J. P. Cottier) to take the necessary steps to enable the board to raise a loan of £4OOO under section 15 of the Finance Act. No. 2, was made by the Golden Bay Electric Power Board at its monthly meeting in Takaka on Friday. The loan will be for the purpose of meeting certain capital expenditure involved in the arrangements the board will have to make before a bulk supply of power ran be taken from the Cobb river hydroelectric station. All members were present at the meeting as follow's: Messrs E. H. Nees (chairman). J. E. Windle, F. W. Falconer, H. Manson and A. H. Baigent. The decision arose out of a preliminary report prepared by the en-gineer-manager on the steps necessary to enable the board to take supply from the Cobb. POINT OF SUPPLY “The Public Works Department is at present proceeding with the completion of the Cobb scheme and anticipates that supply will be available to the board within the next 18 months,” said the engineer-manager. “According to the proposed agreement between the board and the Public Works Department, the point of supply will be at. the Department’s sub-station at Motupipi, 2\ miles from the board’s main sub-station in Takaka. Supply will be given at 11,000 volts. In order to take supply it will be necessary for the board to erect an 11.000 volt line from Motupipi to a new sub-station in Takaka, where the pressure will be reduced from 11.000 to 6600 volts to allow its distribution over the board’s reticulation system. The cost of erecting the, line and building a new sub-station, complete with building, foundations, transformers, switchgear, etc., is tentatively estimated at £3700. “Owing to the Ministry of Supply having recently indicated that exports from the United Kingdom are practically prohibited for the time being and that supply authorities requiring transforme, s. switchgear and other electrical equipment must obtain their requirements from the United States of America, it is exceedingly difficult to estimate with | any degree of accuracy; also the j question delivery dates under the ! present: abnormal conditions cannot be guaranteed. At the present time there are available in New Zealand second-hand 1 1.000-6600 volt transformers that would be suitable for our use if new ones cannot be obtained. SPECIAL LOAN REQUIRED j “The cost of the work involved in ! connecting up with the Public Works , Department supply will require to be , financed by way of a special loan, and as the procedure involved iy raising loans is a lengthy process, and in order to avoid undue delay in plac-

W.%%V.V.V.V.V» , JVAV.V.V. , .% ing orders for equipment. I would i recommend that preliminary steps L be taken at the next meeting for mis- : ing a loan of £4OOO under section 15; of the Finance Act, No. 2, 1936, which | empowers a board, subject to certain \ conditions, to raise additional loans | for reticulation purposes without a : , poll.” During a brief discussion, the chair- 1 man stressed the urgent necessity of! the board being in a position to take! supply from the Cobb river the mo-; ment it became available. In moving that the board take the 1 necessary steps to raise a loan of j ■ £4OOO. Mr Baigent said it was neees-j sary that the board should do all in j : its power to avoid the possibility of a hold-up in receiving the bulk sup- j plySimilar views were expressed by Mr Falconer in seconding the motion, j which was carried unanimously. GENERAL BUSINESS The correspondence included an intimation from the Power Boards’ Industrial Union of Employers that 1 the board, in view of the shortage of labour, was now able to employ two apprentices. 1 A communication from the Price j Tribunal stated that electricity prices, along with the prices of a number of. other selected commodities, were! stabilised as at Ist September and I increases would not be permitted in respect of such commodities. Where boards considered increased charges essential because of increased costs, application could be made to the Price Tribunal. From Press statements it appeared that there was an impres-, sion in some quarters that subsidisation would automatically follow substantiation of additional costs in re- j spect of price stabilised commodities. I The Tribunal wished to correct this j misunderstanding and it was pointed out that only as a last resort would the Government consider subsidisation. The chairman and the engineermanager, who represented the board j at the annual conferences of the ! Power Boards’.and Electric Supply Authorities Association and the engineers’ and secretaries’ branches held j in Wellington recently, briefly reviewed the proceedings and these conferences. While in Wellington the i Golden Bay delegates took the op- i portunity of conferring with the Pub- ; lie Works Department on certain points in the proposed agreement be- ; tween the Department and the board lor the taking of bulk power from the Cobb scheme, and the engineermanager also made inquiries about the obtaining of equipment for the new sub-station. Mr Falconer, in thanking the delegates for their report on behalf of the members, said he had no doubt the j visit to Wellington for the conferences had been veil worth while. Accounts totalling £403 0s lid were passed for payment under the following • headings: Ordinary power fund, £245 j 19s 6d; wiring department, £1(52 Is sd. The financial statement to 30th Sep- , Umber, 1941, gave the bank credit balance as £4Bl 2s lCd (last month, £lll9 9s sd). Cash receipts for Sep-; tember totalled £7OO 14s 4d, and pay- ; ments £1373 14s lid. ENGIXEER-MANAGKIt’S REPORT The report of the engineer-manager ! for the month ended 10th October staU j ed: — “Headworks and Generating Plants: j The past month was an exceptionally • wet one resulting in heavy flooding at i the Pu Pu power station on several oc- j casions. Wind and lightning storms on \ 6th and 26th September caused minor j damage and short interruptions to the j supply in different parts of the district, j The units generated during September | . mounted to 96.360: purchased 54.240: [ making a total of 150.600 units with a | maximum demand of 315 k.w„ as compared with a total of 143.690 units and I 270 k.w. for the same period of last }