CANADA’S WATER WEALTH.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18651, 21 August 1930, Page 2

CANADA’S WATER WEALTH.

GREAT HYDRO-ELECTRIC WORKS OUTPUT OF OVER 4,500,000 H.P. Compared with Canada, the people in New Zealand have not even started to utilise their water resources to develop electric power. Hydro-electric works have been developed to such an extent that to-day Canada has 485 h.p. per every 1000 of her population. Her great paper, timber, and other industries account for hundreds of thousands of horse-power, and every year more generating stations are being added to the total. They realise in Canada that industrial supremacy is closely connected with abundance of cheap power. Canada also has coal, but she pins her faith to water-generated current. To show how the development of hydroelectric works affects the coal trade it may be stated that Canada estimates she saves 27,000,000 tons of coal by reason of the great net-work of waterpower stations spretad over the country. The majority of the hydro-electricity is generated in the Province of Quebec, where it has made enormous strides. In 1910 the province had one-third the total in the Dominion; in 1915 she had 35 per cent; and to-day she has close on 50 per cent. Some of the giant scheme in that province make Arapuni look very small—such, for instance, as the stations on the Saguenay and on the Gatineau. The trouble at Arapuni has arisen, not from the dam itself, but from the weakness of ttye pumice ground through which the headrace runs, and of the ground on which the powerhouse is built. In Canada at a number of the stations there is no headrace, the powerhouse being practically built into the dam itself, and people who know the conditions of both countries have wondered whether it would not be possible to adopt some such scheme at Arapuni, since it is obvious, even to the layman, that to make the present headrace safe and serviceable would cost a vast amount of money, and it is equally apparent that the present foundations of the powerhouse may require expensive alterations if they are to carry the enormous weight of the generators. Unlimited Power The present recorded water resources of Canada would permit the installation of 41.700,000 h.p. According to the latest figures available, the total installation in water wheels in turbines throughout the country is 4,556,266 h.p., which means that less than 11 per cent, of the power available has been developed. New Zealand’s known water resource* are estimated to develop a total of 4,000,000 h.p., of which over 3,000,000 is in the South Island. At Arapuni there was a potential 163,000 h.p., and at AraTiatia there is a potential 136,000 When Arapuni shut down there were three turbines installed, their nominal output being 75,000 h.p. A good example of the grand scale on which they work in Canada can be seen in the work of the Gatineau Power Company, which, with its three plants, at Chelsea, Farmers Rapids, and Paugan Falls, can develop 500,000 h.p Some Big Wokrs. The British Columbia Eler'ric Railway Company constructed in connection with its bridge River project a main tunnel 14,000 feet in length. The work was designed for an initial capacity of 54,000 h.p., but many ultimately reach a total of 550,000 to 700,000 h.p.' At the Point du Bois station the City of Winnipeg has a capacity of

i'OOO h.p There are splendid sites on the Saguenay River. One company develops* 540,000 h.p., and an aluminium company has an 800,000 h.p. plant. Paper-making and pulp mills, the production of aluminium, and electrometallurgical works are some of the big undertakings that use power on this river. The metallurgical company has a plant costing 12.000,000 dollars. One of the companies developing power on the Saguenay runs a transmission line carrying a voltage of 168.000 to connect with the Shawinigan system at Quebec City. Most of the current in Canada is distributed through central stations, a fact which makes break-downs less to be feared than when units are working separately. With the central station system it is possible to have several alternative sources of power development, thus switching over from one to the other in the case 'of any one unit failing. Of the four and a half million horse power developed in Canada 80.9 per cent, goes through central stations. Low Power Users. Pulp and paper mills use a tremendous amount of water-generated power, the total amount generated by the various companies or purchased from central stations being 951,000 h.p. General industrial enterprises such as electro-chemical reduction, timber milling, flour-milling, grain-grinding, water pumping, etc., use about 400,000 h.p. Canada’s extensive use of electric current may be gathered from the fact that she has 485 h.p. per 1000 of the population—a remarkable proportion. It will be noticed that the paper making mills use an enormous amount of power. This is easily understood when we know that to convert wooa pulp into paper on which newspapers are printed required 100 h.p. per ton of paper turned out. In Canada there are over 100 paper mills that generate their own power, having an output of over a half a million horse power, and the total amount of current usea in the industry is put down at over 950,000 h.p. It is estimated that the amount of capital represented by Canada’s hydraulic installation totals over 340,000,000 dollars or £168,000,000.