POWER FAILURE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 686, 11 June 1929, Page 1

POWER FAILURE

OVERLOAD CAUSES QUEEN STREET ECLIPSE BOARD’S EXPLANATION “The interruption was due to a very heavy fault on one of our main feeder cables close to the King’s Wharf str.ion.’ 'T'HIS explanation was given to the members of the Auckland Elec-tric-Power Board at yesterday’s meeting in a report submitted by the general manager, Mr. R. H. Bartley, in answer to complaints from business consumers in connection with the total failure of light on the eastern side of Queen Street on the evening of Friday, May 31. Mr. W. J. Holdsworth presided. “The proximity of the cable to the King’s Wharf station produced a ‘fault current’ of sufficient magnitude to trip out all feeders on one side of the system, including our direct current station load auxiliaries, consisting of condensate and circulating pumps, stoker feeds and forced draught fans,” said Mr. Bartley In his report. The reason why the eastern side ot Queen Street only was affected was due to the board’s far-sighted policy of splitting the area up into sections fed from different sub-stations, which provided against widespread inconvenience. The overloading of the station had been caused by the late delivery of Arapuni power, but every precaution had been taken to maintain a continuity of supply.