HARNESSING THERMAL REGIONS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 35, 9 October 1946, Page 7

HARNESSING THERMAL REGIONS

TESTING SYSTEM IN NEW' ZEALAND

DISPENSING WITH NEED FOR COAL

The first phase of New Zealand’s plan to harness the enormous powers of its Rotorua thermal regions for the benefit of man has been undergoing thorough test at the socalled “volcano observatory,” states a report in an American paper. Built by the Department of Scientific and. Industrial Research, the observatory has been studying the future possibilities of the thermal area.

The 300-mile expanse of lakes, geysers, boiling mild pools and hot springs which forms the region has long been a challenge to the natural scientist and a hope to the industrial planner. Here, on startling display are subterranean fires of the earth, reaching up' through a thm shell of crust protection. Study Long Planned

Natural scintists have wanted for years to organise a systematic study of the regions. They want to know what causes the thermal regions. They also want to know just what can be done with the sulphur wat--ers, the alkaline waters, the calcium carbonated waters, the springs containing salt and iodine, the steam and the heat. Especially the heat. For New Zealanders, romantic about the resources of their country, have always denied that they lacked coal. But the war cut supplies of the Australian coal which used to give their cities gas and their railways high speed. And they know better now. v Directing their new undertaking is Montague Ongley, Government geologist, under whose supervision the “volcanic laboratory” set up housekeeping. Its delicate instruments count the earth pulsations and seek to build a picture of the behaviour of these unusual regions which Government surveys claim to be unique in the world. Rainfall, hot .spring activity, volcanic action, and what the natural scientists soothingly call “earth movements” are scheduled to be-re-corded and their relationship examined. At the same time, the laboratory seeks to estimate just what power and heat are available in the thermal region and how much they can be harneSSed by man. • # . “If we could find a way of s utilising the heat from Mt. Ruapehu alone, we should not need coal,” Mr Ongley declares.

New Zealand .natural scientists admit the Italians led the way. In Tuscany, Mr Ongley said, steam vents which formerly were shunned have been made the means of sustenance of many people and of thriving industries. Boric acid and borax were the principal products of these industries, but the numerous by-products included ammonia, carbon dioxide, sodium perborate which is used for making soap, hydrogensulphide, methane and rare gases. Railways, light and power have been operated on the west coast of Italy at costs cheaper than are possible by using coal, petroleum, or hydro-electricity. What Italy possesses, New Zealand hopes- to develop, even to a larger extent. System Long TJsetl

At Lardello in Tuscany, the Italians have been producing boric acid from scalding natural steam for more than a century. On the island of Ischia, near Naples, peasants make use of numerous Spouts of natural steam to warm, their tomato plants and .make them mature sooner. On the bottom of the crater of extinct Agnano Mountain, a gardener has achieved year-round crops by co-ordinating his sowing and harvesting with an irrigation system provided by hot springs.

At Castel Nuovo, a 130-meter well operates three 2,000-kilowatt turbogenerators, the plant yielding 12,000 kilowatts at latest advice, with no exhaustion of the resources yet being apparent. The whole area of the central North Island from Hamilton down to Wanganui, Napier and Palmerston North, can be served with heat from the New Zealand thermal regions under existing techniques, the Department of Scientific' and ,Industrial Research declares. Carriage of heat beyond this region will depend upon the improvement on present methods.

Most of the big reserves of hydroelectric power are in the South Island, and the North Island is already in a critical state in its demands for heat and light. Yet it is the North Island which is expected to show the great population gains of the future.