POWER SUPPLY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18235, 20 November 1924, Page 8

POWER SUPPLY.

OUTLOOK FOR NEXT WINTER.

SATISFACTORY OPERATION OF

HARPER DIVERSION.

As is generally known amongst consumers of Lake Coleridge electric power the winter of 192-5 promises to test severely the capacity of the power station to meet demands. One gratifying factor, and ono that will materially assist in the pinch period being got through successfully, is the manner iu which the Harper River diversion has served the purpose for which it was constructed—the maintenance of the level of the water in Lake Coleridge. The ability of the generating plant to carry a heavy overload is not giving those in charge of the power scheme so much concern as tho maintenance of the water supply. Unless the water pressure is sufficient there are frictional losses in the tunnel which reduce the effectiveness of the generating plant. The temporary deviation of the Harper was completed in 1921, but it was not till March, 1922, that the permanent deviation was constructed. In that month the lake level, which at normal is 1067 ft, stood at 1661.15 ft; by the end of 1922 it was at 1666.8 ft; aiid during 1923 (with the exception of the winter period, when heavy loads were experienced, and when the level dropped to 1668.4 ft) it stood at 1670 ft (normal); in December, in order to enable necessary maintenance work at the Harper River diversion to be carried out, the level dropped to 1667.9 ft. All this year the level has been maintained (with slight fluctuations now and then) at 1670 ft, and at times at a fraction over that figure. Commenting on these facts Mr R. G. Mac Gibbon, District Electrical Engineer, informed ■ a reporter yesterday that during this year the supply from the Harper has been ample, and has been more or less uniform. Formerly during the winter months, when heavy maximum loads are experienced at the power station, there was little or no water in tho Harper available to augment the water in the lake: the winter of 1924 was remarkable for the opposite state of affairs obtaining—a plentiful supply from tho Harper at the period when the heaviest demands were made on the power house. "It is anticipated," Mr Mac Gibbon added, "that there will be an equally satisfactory flow from the Harper during the winter months of next year. With the lako level at a little over 1670 ft there is ample storage capacity to tide over any dry period that may occur during tho winter months. With the co-opera-tion of those possessing stand-by plants, and the absence of grouching on the part of consumers (who will be expected to co-operate also in keeping down the demajid at peak load periods) we hope to get through next May, Juno and July without serious trouble."