POWER STATION ON RAKAIA RIVER
Water Taken From
Rangitata
DEVELOPMENT OF 30,000
HORSEPOWER PLANNED
[From Our Own Reporter.]
TEMUKA, September 15,
A great deal of importance is attached by the Public Works Department to the plan to erect a hydro-electric genera ting.-plant on the. Rakaia river at the outlet of *the river irrigation diversion race. ' A site has now been selected for a power-house, where the race will fall into the Rakaia river and because of the urgent need for new generating units the plan will be pushed on .with all speed. A reporter of “The Press” was shown the site which has been, selected for this new electric power station which will have an output nearly as great as that at Lake Coleridge. Because it will be much more modern the new station will be smaller than Lake Coleridge. It will have a generating capacity of 30,000 horsepower and is expected to provide a very useful augmentation of the supply on the South Island system,
The site of the power-house is on the river plain below the terrace near Methven where the Rangitata race, :With a-flbw of 900 cusecs, will empty over a 350-foot drop. The 350 feet will provide a fall sufficient to driye turbines of the size of those at Lake Coleridge. Only the winter flow of the race will be utilised so that the water coming 41 miles from the Rangitata will serve the dual purpose of irrigating Mid-Canterbury in hot, dry seasohs and the generation of power for the whole of . the province' in the winter at a time when the demand bn the power .supply in the South Island is heaviest. It is.-claimed that this plan will alone make the -Rangitata- diversion scheme more than payable economically. - Capacity of Race
At the present the'construction of the huge race, which will carry nearly 100 times more water than the Avon river, is being - accelerated. One of the huge grab-lines, which played such an important part in the construction of the Hawkeswood cutting on the South Island Main Trunk line above Parnassus, has been transferred to the headworks near the mouth of the Rangitata Gorge, and has already'cut out nearly half a mile of the huge race. A total of considerably more than 500,000 cubic yards of excavation has been taken out, but the total length of 41 miles will require approximately 2,900,000 yards of excavation. ■ -The type of country being"'cut through is heavy, stony, river and glacial drift with occasional huge boulders, some of which weigh as much as seven tons.
According to the last Public Works Statement issued by the Minister for Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple), the race is scheduled.for completion by the spring of 1940, so that in . all probability the power plant will be generating by 1941. ’ This Rakaia Valley scheme, which will be linked with the Coleridge-Waitaki-Otago, system; is a major item of the plan which the department has- developed for the' extension of '-the: South Island system during the next 10 years. It* is expected to play a major part in meeting the anticipated heavy demands on the supply during the next few years.
A meeting of :the> central executive, of the •provincial courts in the Centennial Exhibition will be held in Wellington on September 29, when various matters relating, tp the lay-out, of the courts, allocation of 4 space, financial administration, and other aspects of the plans will be discussed. It is probable that the DeputyMayor (Mr J. S. Barnett) will attend on behalf of the Mayor, and Canterbury win also be represented- by -Mr W. S. ~MacGibbon, Mr J. Roy Smith, and a representative: , of . Christchurch architects. It is expected that delegates will also attend from- South Canterbury, as well as-the other ; South Island, provinces. -. . ' Accommodation - for . members of the Autoi mobile Association (Canterbury)' visiting Han,'mer Springs is to be increased by the erection *of six -amts.- Last night thej council','of the association decided to spend' nearly £ 600 in building these huts. It made this decision; on the recommendation of the camning committee, which reported that it had resolved to abandon a nroposal to build cubicles.’which would cost, -£657: Six hiits. 18 feet by 12 feet each, of three , rooms, would cost £579. The council-decided-that a stipulation in the contract “for the..huts would be - that they would be ready for occupation before .Christmas^..., v ..
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Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22508, 16 September 1938, Page 10
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728POWER STATION ON RAKAIA RIVER Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22508, 16 September 1938, Page 10
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