WEMBLEY’S GIANT POWER STATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19021, 17 November 1923, Page 15

WEMBLEY’S GIANT POWER STATION.

FORTY FIRMS IN JOINT EXHIBIT. Work has now been started on the huge electric station which is to supply the Jiritish JEmpire- Kxhibition next year at Wembley with both driving power and light. An enormous amount of current will be needed for lighting the numerous great buildings that are beipg erected and lor driving the machines, lifts, general services. and amusements to be installed. The power station is itself to form one of the exhibits in the electrical and allied industries section of the Palace of Engineering. Visitors will be invited to inspect the station and see for themselves what British firms have to olfer in the way ot nlanl lor generating and supplying electricity. A special gallery is being "built from' which visitors will bo able at all times to view the machinery at work. The requirements of the Exhibtion demanded a highly efficient generating plant, and the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association, whose members include all the leading makers of power plant, decided that the products of these firms could most effectively be displayed if seen actually working. The association have accordingly assisted the consulting engineers in planning the erecting of the power station on lines that will m nke it representative of some 40 electrical manufacturing firms. The newer station will bo situated on the northern side of the Palace of Engineering. The main features will be three 1500 kilownlt turbo generatohrs of the most recent type, supplied with steam from two different types of water-tuba boilers. Each of these generators will be the work of a different firm, and in the same 'way the condensing plants, air filters, rotary converters, transformers, cooling towers, switch-gear, batteries, and so on will be of varying makes. Never before in (he history of electricity has there been installed in a single plant so heterogeneous a collection of machinery and apparatus. In spite of the variety of the makers participating, the whole will work together with perfect precision. For purposes of demonstration, a very important section of the industry is showing other forms of power producers. In the main hall, though not actually in the power station, there will bo exhibited a slew-speed steam set and a horizontal internal combustion set, each generating 300 kilo-watts. These will be run under load on stands, and will be coupled up to the body of the plant through panels on the main switchboard. The whole of the electrical and allied engineering section has been organised by the 8.E.A..M.A. The area which it covers is the enormous one of four and n-half acres. Into that space will ’ e crowded exhibits forming a complete catalogue of the industries represented by (be assoc.ation. With very few exceptions, every branch of the industry is exhibiting, each branch being representoed by a number of firms. Some concerns have taken as much as from 4003 to SCOO square feet for their stands. Over 200 firms in all am participating in this section, and the result will be a spectacle full of interest and fascination to every class of visitor. Groat engines of commerce involving the use of thousands of borsc-powor will be soon side by side with the most delicate forms of apparatus. Th o uses of electricity in the daily life of the average citizen will be demonstrated in a number of small exhibits of ; h«orliiiig interest. Householder and housewife will both find endless little ways of economising or of adding to their comforts in the home.