HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3993, 23 September 1930, Page 64

HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER.

PROVISION OF STAND-BY PLANTS

STATEMENT BY MINISTER

WELLINGTON, September 19.

An announcement that he intended tq take steps to place before Cabinet a scheme for the provision of stand-by plants throughout the country in order to be prepared for future failures of the larger hydro-electric power plants was made by the Minister of Public Works (Mr W. B. Taverner), in reply to a deputation ot Canterbury members of Parliament which waited upon him this evening in reference to the power shortage at Lake Coleridge. Mr Taverner said he realised the existing stand-by plants were quite inadequate to meet the demands made upon them, and he intended to frame a national policy for the provision of auxiliary power in the event of future trouble.

Replying to the deputation, which em? phasised the serious position in Can? terbury as a result of the fall in the level of Lake Coleridge, the Minister promised that a stand-by plant of suffi? cient capacity to meet all needs would be in commission by next winter, and he added that he would not stand in the way of the Christchurch City Council generating it own power from the Wai? makariri River. The Minister said that if mistakes had been made, and they appeared to have been, the best thing to do was to tackle the problem as it existed throughout the country. The demands upon the Coleridge plant had proved far greater than was anticipated. Unfortunately this had been the case in every centre where hydroelectric power had been generated, and the policy in this respect had not kept pace with the industries. The provision of stand-by plants was of supreme importance at the moment, and he intended to see that they were provided. “ I know enough about hydro-electrie power works to realise that in dealing with the elemental forces of Nature we cannot expect to order those forces as we w-ould like,” the Minister said. “ During the past six months New- Zealand has experienced peculiar conditions as far as the weather is concerned. First Waipori, then a failure at Arapuni, caused by different circumstances, and now we are faced with an abnormally low rainfall in the area supplying the Coleridge power station. Everybody is powerless to do anything. This plainly shows that adequate provision must be made for steam-operated plants to take up the load when required. At the moment we are going into the w-hole question, and I hope before long to be able to submit to Cabinet proposals for a general policy in regard to the supply of electricity in New Zealand. The stand-by plants that exist to-day are totally inadequate for the job, and that is one of the reasons why Christchurch and Timaru and other” districts are going short.