POWER FROM MANGAHAO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17845, 28 July 1921, Page 7

POWER FROM MANGAHAO.

WELLINGTON'S POSITION. ADJUSTMENT TO MODERN SUPPLY, Electricity from Mangahao will, it is expected, bo available ill Wellington lor the end of 1925. Before the electric power j can reach the homes of the people and the | factories of the city, however, a great deal |of work must be done by the city, says I the Evening Post. Wellington was the • first place in New Zealand to adopt elec- | trieity on a large scale, and a large pro- ; portion of the industrial power supply is ; provided from a plant working "on an obsolete system. The Wellington supply of alternating current is "single-phase 80-cyclea." Far more usual nowadays, and indeed almost standard practice, is to supply alternating current as " three-phase 50-cyciea." or something approximating to it. Even without explanation of these terns, it is evident that they mean verv different things; ana it can bo stated LrieSy thatreither the distribution system nor motors adapted for the one can be used (except on a email scale, and then with a loes of efficiency) for the other. Mangahao currentwill be three-phase 50-cycles, and, to use ! it, the city's transmission system must, ito a very large extent, be replaced. Facitones which use alternating current motors j must get new ones. Lf, in addition, the i new supply is provided at 230 volte mj stead of 100 volts aa at present, every- ! electric lamp, cocking appliance, radiator, j electric iron, or other appliance most also ibe replaced. Perhaps a good deal of reI wiring of houses will be necessary, and j new meters will be required. No announcement has been made as to | when the City of Wellington is to attempt, j to reticulata id readinssa fui the new supip; and consumers have not even been j told definitely the voltage at which tho i current "-"lli be supplied—a matter of great j importance to present and prospective , users, especially of motors.