VAST RESOURCES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26748, 17 April 1948, Page 6

VAST RESOURCES

Future Power Schemes in South Island SCOPE FOR MAJOR INDUSTRIES Whereas the hydro-electric power potentialities'of the North Island are considered sufficient only to meet the normal annual increases in consumption, the resources of the South Island are almost unlimited. In fact, experts of the Public Works Department have estimated that hydro-electric power schemes in the South Island could produce 7,000,000 kilowatts—a huge figure when it is considered that the Roxburgh project will generate about 315,000 kilowatts. With so much power available, it is little wonder that great attention is being paid to the South Island at present by the engineers responsible for hydro-electric development.

_ First in the chain of projects as iSrge as some of the most important power schemes overseas is the Roxburgh undertaking, together with the necessary control of Lakes Wanaka and Hawea. The final plans for this scheme are nearing completion. But the generation at Roxburgh of 315,000 kilowatts in a few years’ time is by no means absorbing all the interest of the engineers, for at Blackjacks Point, on the Waitaki River, investigations are proceeding for the construction of a dam and another huge station that will be even larger than the Roxburgh scheme. It is estimated that 340,000 kilowatts will be produced at this station should the investigations prove satisfactory and the work be proceeded with. Blackjacks Point is about 20 miles above Waitaki, where the river leaves a steep, rocky gorge, more rugged than the Roxburgh Gorge. A suspension footbridge has been built across the river at the point where the investigations are being made, and a camp is being erected on the flat on the southern bank. A contract has just been let for the driving of an investigation tunnel, and test boring will be commenced in the next few weeks. The scheme will be on the gravity principle, but, unlike the present Waitaki scheme, the storage behind the dam will be considerable. In fact, the lake so formed will be more than half the size of Lake Tekapo, and if the Ahuriri River valley is used as well, the lake will be nearly as large as Tekapo. Sounds Power Scheme Not only is Blackjacks Point engaging the attention of public works engineers. A party comprising Messrs C. W. O. Turner, assistant engineer in charge of the Public Works Department, W. M. Fisher, inspecting engineer, and C. E. K. Alecock, project engineer for the Roxburgh scheme, is at present on a tour of inspection in the south. Among the power schemes in mind is the West Coast Sounds project which makes use of the waters of Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau, with a possible output of over 1,000,000 kilowatts. Roxburgh is not the only scheme possibly on the Molyneux. Sites are available for several other large stations between the sea and the Southern Lakes. One feature of these schemes has at times caused opposition from sections of the public. This is the damning of the lakes so that water may be conserved in summer for use in the winter months. Grave fears were recently expressed that any control of Lake Wanaka would mar its beauty and threaten the town. Similar concern was expressed over raising the level of Lake Hawea. Engineers told the Daily Times that any power projects on the Molyneux would be of little without dams at Wanaka and

sion will take place in the southern provinces of New Zealand. Many major industries which are possible in the south with an assurance of plentiful power are the manufacture of aluminium, the extraction of magnesium from the sea, the manufacture of nitrates for explosives or fertilisers, and the production of ferro-alloys. Such is the optimistic view of the great industrial future of the South Island held by Mr Turner, the assistant Public Works engineer for New Zealand, who feels that industry must come south in the years ahead.

It is the present intention to build a dam at Wanaka which would raise the level of the lake about 15 feet, a new level that is not above the highest recorded flood level. The dam would not be across the foot of the lake, as was first feared, and the most likely site for it is not far distant from the Albert Town bridge. Such a dam would enable the lake to be controlled and would have the effect of raising it not more than 18 feet at flood peaks. At Hawea much greater control is planned. In fact, the lake level wbuld probably be raised as much as 50 feet. Little can be done at Lake Wakatipu except to improve the control gates at the Kawarau dam, but altogether sufficient storage would be built up and controlled to meet the needs of the huge power stations that will come into being down the river. Major Industries Possible With ,so much power likely to be available in the south it is natural to assume that a great industrial expan-