FORTUNATE POSITION

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 302, 21 December 1931, Page 7

FORTUNATE POSITION

Electrical Development in N.Z. STARTED AT RIGHT TIME. As a young country New Zealand has benefited considerably from the fact that we were able to start our electrical career at a time when we had available the experiences of older countries. This is one of the impressions gained by Mr E. Hitchcock, general manager of the Municipal Electricity Department, during a nine months’ tour of Canada, the United States and Great Britain, from which he returned on Saturday. He stated in an interview to-day that one of the aspects of elec-. trical supply in older countries which had not had to be faced to any extent in New Zealand was the incubus of an original and now abandoned system. In most of the large cities of the Old World the problem of normal growth and consequent extensions was relatively simple compared with the much more difficult problem of eliminating without inconvenience to the consumer that part of the system which had been outgrown or had become obsolete.

“ This was particularly noticeable in some of the larger American cities,” said Mr Hitchcock. “At stages in their history when electrical development was not greatly advanced some of these cities, being wealthy and populous, built extensive electrical systems. Consequently when the rapid development of electricity indicated more modern and more economical methods they found themselves with a proportionately greater load of obsolete plant. Price Paid for Progress.

“No doubt, this is no more than one of the prices paid for progress, but our later start in New Zealand has benefited us substantially in this respect. It was possibly a fortunate combination of circumstances that enabled this city to benefit at the outset from the electrical experiences of older countries and it is well that we should remember the recognition due to Mr E. E. Stark, under whose technical direction the city’s small, initial electrical installation was super-, seded by the nucleus of*its modern distribution system required to deal with the new bulk supply from Lake Coleridge. Position in Britain. “ It is this difficulty, complicated by some of its conservative characteristics, that gives rise to the present situation of the electrical supply in Great Britain. Early development there resulted in a large number of small stations, each having an entirely separate and limited supply area and different voltages and frequencies, being established. These undertakings served their respective areas efficiently and well, and in many cases with very economical operation and comparatively cheap rates. “ This system of separate companies with different electrical characteristics was, however, fatal to extensions on a large scale and precluded inter-connec-tion. Electrical development for many years was hampered by Board of Trade and Post Office restrictions, and it was not until after the war that the need for a comprehensive scheme was realised. It was not without considerable difficulty that the necessary legislation received Parliament’s approval and provision was made for a country-wide supply under Government control. This provides for the 132,000 volt network over the whole of England and Scotland, and which is popularly known as the ‘ grid.’ ” Many Difficulties. Mr Hitchcock said that individual development had progressed so far and represented such large undertakings that the problem was beset with many difficulties. The method finally adopted was briefly that the Electricity Commission, operating through a Central Board, had the power to select certain existing stations on the grounds of efficiency, capacity or economy, and retain them as main sources of supply for feeding into the so-called grid. Where existing stations were either inefficient or not suitably located the Commissioners had the power to coostruct new generating plants of large capacity and modern type, and this was being done in a number of places.

The grid was the ’main system, and from it a distribution system at a lower voltage carried the supply to the final point from which reticulation delivered it to the consumers. In view of the controversy in Wellington in regard to the relative merits of 100 volts and 230 volts for domestic supply, and the same discussions which were frequently renewed in the States, it was of particular interest to New Zealand that the standard voltages adopted in Great Britain ,yvere 400 for power and 230 for domestic supply, which were the same as had been adopted in this country.