WEST COAST POWER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19029, 1 June 1936, Page 11

WEST COAST POWER

LINE PROM COLERIDGE COMMENT BY MINISTER (Per Proas Association.) WELLINGTON, last nightInterviewed, the Minister for Public Works, the Hon. R. Scrapie, amplified in some particulars, the report he made a day or so ago in regard to the supply of power on the West. Coast. He stated that the transmission line from Coleridge to the central point oil the coast was estimated to cost £145,OQO, and for the load in sight in the immediate future he allowed an additional £20,000 to provide a limited amount of distribution. This main line would be a, double circuit one, operating 66,000 volts and would have a load capacity of about 15,000 kilowatts The line would have an advantage in that it would make it possible to supply hydro power for the railway electrification at Arthur's Pass tunnel.

Surveys which had been carried out on the coast indicated that a similar amount of power could not ho obtained at the same price from local sources. Under the circumstances, said the Minister, he had no hesitation in recommending the. Cabinet to adopt the transmission line \proposal, which' would provide a larger amount cf power at considerably less cost. This project had the additional advantage that, once it were established, it would give much greater value to the potentialities of local schemes which would, undoubtedly, be required at some later date.