WAITAKI POWER SUPPLY

Southland Times, Issue 23335, 20 October 1937, Page 15

WAITAKI POWER SUPPLY

REQUEST FOR DOUBLE CIRCUIT LINE TO DUNEDIN AND INVERCARGILL Support for the action of the Dunedin City Council in its proposal to bring to the notice of the Minister of Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple) the necessity for a double circuit to supplement the present single power line between the Waitaki electric power supply station and Southland was promised at last night’s meeting of the City Council. The trading committee reported that it understood that after next winter the Monowai plant and the council’s steam plant would not be sufficient to carry the Southland load and it was considered that the electricity supply for Southland would be jeopardized if the district was dependent for its supply on one transmission line only through a distance of 180 miles.

Discussing the question, the trading committee’s report stated:— “A letter has been received from the Dunedin City Council stating that so far the Government has installed only one transmission line between Oamaru and the substation at Halfway Bush near Dunedin. The line to Monowai is to be taken from the Halfway Bush station. The position will be, therefore, that for the supply drawn from Waitaki, the districts served will be dependent on continuity by a single line running from Waitaki to Southland, about 180 miles. The Dunedin City Council has for some time felt uneasy about the position as affecting the present portion of the line from Waitaki >o Dunedin, and there appears now to be good reason for similar perturbation by this council. The letter points out that a double circuit is being erected from Coleridge to the West Coast and it is suggested that if two lines are considered essential for the West Coast, at least the same security should be provided for Dunedin and Invercargill. The Dunedin City Council proposes to make representations to the Minister of Public Works on the matter, urging that in order to provide some safeguard against complete interruption in supply, the power transmission line from Waitaki should be duplicated. The Dunedin City Council considers that representations made by the two bodies on a subject of such importance will be needed to impress the Minister with the urgency of the matter.”