SUPPLIES OF POWER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25069, 10 November 1942, Page 2

SUPPLIES OF POWER

DEVELOPMENT AT WAIPORI INVESTIGATION APPROVED I The reasons why it was proposed ; that reports should be obtained on the I advisability of raising the height of ; the darn at Wrfrpori and on road de- j viations and bridges which would be : required if this was undertaken were i explained by Cr M. C. Henderson, who ; moved the adoption of the Electricity | Committee’s report at the meeting of ! the City Council last night. _ i Cr Henderson recalled that in 1935 | the council had entered into an agree- , ment with the Government to purchase ! power from Waitaki. The principal i reason had been to obtain a stand-by I supply, and the terms had required | the council to purchase a minimum j amount of power, increasing this i amount over a term of 10 years. As a result of this agreement it had been possible to limit the height of the dam at Waipori to 67ft. and the council had been able to avoid for a period of 10 years a capital expenditure of at least £250,000. By the time the term of the agreement had concluded, the Waipori system would be producing at the limit of its capacity, and. under present conditions, it would then be necessary to go to the Government for power. Negotiations with the Government had recently been commenced, and points which had never been anticipated had arisen.

During recent months. Cr Henderson added, the original agreement with the Government had been laid aside, and this arrangement had been working out to the advantage of the council. The reason for this action was that the Government had been held up in its construction work and also by the difficulty of obtaining supplies. The council had been able to help the Government by reducing its requirements. One method by which the city could help the Government was by raising the height of the dam at Waipori. This could be done without the necessity of importing material, as only labour, cement, and gravel would be required. If the dam were raised to 110 ft, three new bridges, one of which would cost about £25,000, would have,to be built. In reply to Cr J. W. Munro. who asked whether it would not be possible to build another power station, using the existing water supply a second time. Cr Henderson replied that, until the dam was raised to. its full height, the council would not be able to obtain the full benefit of the Waipori scheme. He added that the present agreement with the Government had worked out wonderfully well for the city, but the Government now wanted a new type of contract. Had power not been available from Waitaki, the city would have been without power for 12 hours on one occasion and for four hours on another. In addition, it had been possible to do at Waipori a great deal of work which would have been impossible without an alternative source of supply. The committee’s recommendations were adopted.