STEAM PLANT ON COALFIELD SUGGESTED

Chronicle (Levin), 11 June 1947, Page 5

STEAM PLANT ON COALFIELD SUGGESTED

. WELLINGTON, June 10. The establish") ent of a steara powei generating station on the extensive an uiideveloped Mokau eoalfields situated pn the Mokau River in North Taranaki as a means of alleviating the preseni electric power shortage has been sug gested by Mr, J. A. Pigott, A.M.I.E.E., eleetrical "engineei'j of Wellington. Mr I'igott has submitted his propQsal t( .he Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, for tlu 'onsideratioii of the Governhient. In a memorandum giving details oi | the proposal, Mr. l?igott stated that ii I was submitted originally by him in coi i laboration with the late Mr. W. D. "7iJ. kinso-n, abont 1924, in eonnection witl the proposed explpitation of the iron -:and deposits of Taranaki for steel making by Messrs. Summerson and Sons, of Darlington, England, and was endorsed by leading engineers of thai time. However, the sclieme was aban doned only ou account of the inabilit, of Summerson and Sons and the Government of the day to come to satisfactory' terins. The vital need, for f ' thermai back-up" tq the existing and futurr hydro-electric developments to mee, eniergency eonditions could not bt urged too strongly. The many natura hazards demanded this. There weri low water periods, drought and storm eonditions, and the ever-present dangei of eartliquake damage, especiaily 151 view of the volcanic strueture of tlu country in which the North Islam sehepies were situated. This latter ris]; was further aggravated by the coneen tration of the major _ North Islan developments on one river, the Wai kato. \