ARAPUNI DEADLOCK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19743, 16 September 1927, Page 12

ARAPUNI DEADLOCK.

HOPE OF EAKLY SOLUTION. ALTERNATIVE IN RESERVE. POWER FROM WAIKAREMOANA. SUPPLY IN TWO YEARS POSSIBLE. [BY TELEGRAPH. SPECIAL REPORTER, j WELLINGTON. Thursday. At Waikaremoana there is a supply of electric power in the making which may possibly be used to meet Auckland s re quirements should the unforeseen happen at Arapuni and the existing steam plant plus the emergency Diesel plant, nowbeing shipped from England, be insufficient to cope with the load. It is anticipated by the engineers of the Public Works Department that they will be able to deliver 20.000 k.v.a. from thr first unit at Waikaremoana by the end of next year, and that the 40,000 k.v.a. comprised in the first stage «. the scheme will be available by June, 1929. the schedule time, if not earlier. The department lias en tered into a contract with the Poverty Bav Power Board at Gisbcrne to supply it with 2000 k.v.a. by June. 1929. In the early years, the bulk cf the supply from Waikaremoana will go south to link up with the Mangahao system at Napier Basing their calculations on the existing and probable demand, the engineers of the department consider that by the time Waikaremoana is ready to take its share in meeting the North Island power demand, the Mangahao scheme will be seriously overloaded. Augmenting the Mangahao supply are fuel-driven plants at Wellington, Palmerston North, Hastings and Wanganui, but even with this assistance it is anticipated that by 1929 the demand for current will be fully equal to the supply now available. Linking Two Schemes. The general scheme for the distribution of electric current throughout the North Island from the Government plants provides for inter-connection between the Arapuni scheme and the Waikaremoana gcheme. It i 3 this fact which makes the latter scheme of interest to Auckland. It is now anticipated that Arapuni will be completed some time in 1929, up to which time the additional fuel-driven plant recently ordered in England and the existing sources of supply will be sufficient to meet Auckland's demand. Should, however, there be any further delays at Arapuni, the making of the connection with Waikaremoana may be expedited. Again, should the load on Arapuni so increase that additional generating units become, necessary, the department may consider as an alternative the provision of the connecting line between the two schemes. The erection of the line between Arapuni and Waikaremoana will not be an easy matter or a task that will be lightly undertaken. The route will probably be through the Drewera Country to Rotorua and the line will be about 100 miles long. For about a third of the near Waikaremoana the country is very broken and a good deal of it has not yet been thoroughly explored, so that at present it is impossible to say what difficulties may be encountered in constructing the transmission lines* Erection of the Line. A survey of the route may be made this summer, and while allowances must be made for the inaccuracies attendant on estimates without much data, it is thought that the line, if wanted in a hurry, could be put through by 1929. That it is a job for two summers is the present belief of the engineers, but the men of the Public Works Department have the happy faculty of fceirig able to do the seemingly impossible if they have to, and if a good winter were experienced the line might be carried over by the spring of 1929, provided the survey were made this year and the construction of the line put in hand next year. Whether the line will be wanted before its construction would be warranted by normal development in the demand for power in the Auckland province depends, of course, on Arapuni. The progress or lack of progress in the completion of these works will give engineers ample warning as to whether it will be necessary to go further afield for power to meet the city and rural demand in 1929. However, there is reason to believe there will be a happy issue cut of Arapuni's afflictions in the "near future. In the meantime it is a comforting thought that Waikaremoana is developing in the background ready to come in to help out its tardy, if bigger brother.