Power Report Suggests £l35m Deferment

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31111, 14 July 1966, Page 3

Power Report Suggests £l35m Deferment

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 13. An estimated £135,000,000 deferment on capital expenditure over 10 years as compared with the 1965 programme and construction of a coal-fired station at New Plymouth are two highlights of the power planning committee report released today. Also contained in the report, tabled today in Parliament, there were recommendations for the addition of at least 300,000 kilowatts to the capacity of Manapouri for commissioning in April, 1971, and deferment of further development on the Waitaki river.

The report of the planning committee on Electric Power Development is a recommendation to Government, and all proposals put forward are subject to further investigation before firm decisions can be made.

! New Plymouth was accepted by the committee, without comment, as the preferred site for construction of a 600.000-kilowatt coal-burning station, for first power in 1972, on the basis of findings by the engineering consultants to the Government. From Manapouri The committee reported on discussions between the New Zealand Electricity Department and Consolidated Zinc on the possibility of obtaining additional power from Manapouri for public use without interfering with the company’s requirements. “Full development of Ma"apouri and construction of the coal-fired plant would lead to

a substantial saving in capital expenditure over the next 10 years compared with the cost of the alternative discussed in last year’s report,” said the committee. The cumulative total capital expenditure for the 1965 plan was £570,000,000 over 10 years, estimated on the basis of today’s costs. Seven Turbines

If Manapouri is pushed ahead and seven turbines are installed for commissioning in 1971—instead of the four now intended in the first stage—and a suitable agreement can be concluded with Consolidated Zinc, the Crown may have available energy nearly equal to the output of Maryburn, Pukaki and Ostler hydro-electric stations on the Waitaki river, at an extra cost of £11,000.000, instead of £55,000,000. The plan of development put forward this year assumes that the Crown will have this extra electricity from Manapouri for system use at least up to the end of 1975. Nuclear Power

Steady progress in preparations for nuclear-fuelled power stations is shown in the report. The first of such stations is provisionally planned for the Auckland area by about 1977. The siting, subcommittee has continued to meet, anemometers at two sites on the Kaipara harbour have been brought into service, sea-water temperatures have been measured in the harbour, and the Navy is completing a programme of soundings near the two sites, the committee reported. A nuclear station capable of producing about 6500 million units a year and a peak generation of about 1,500,000 kw. would cost £137,000,000, the committee said. The purchase of two colliers each of 5500-ton capacity or three of 3500-ton capacity for the New Zealand Electricity Department was recommended by consultants to the Government in a paper attached to the report.

The colliers - would be retained in the department’s control, whether manned by it or by agents. Consultants said such vessels could carry coal well in excess of the average weekly consumption of the proposed coal-fired power station. A collier could be used to maintain or repair the Cook Strait power cable. 10,577 m. Units

Generation for New Zealand was 10,577 million units and the peak demand 2261 megawatts for the year ended last March 31, the report said.

Last year it was estimated that 1965/66 generation would be 10,718 million units and 2298 megawatts, both figures including an assessment of the losses in transmission on the connexion of the North and South Island systems. In the event, losses over the whole system were less than estimated. The consumption

It is assumed the plant will be available in 1968.

of electric power almost exactly agreed with the estimate, according to the report. Over-all, the energy estimates for the full period have increased by .8 per cent, the report said. Included in this revision are the prospective sales by the New Zealand Electricity Department to its retail consumers. Steel Industry In addition to the above are the future requirements of the steel and ironsands industry. Estimates adopted previously by the committee have been repeated in this revision of total consumption. Because of difficulties in obtaining local authority approval, there is now no possibility of the 50,000-kilowatt gas turbine plant at Otahuhu substation being commissioned by next April, the committee said.