HUTT RIVER POWER

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 220, 11 June 1920, Page 9

HUTT RIVER POWER

WHAT MR. PARRY SAID;

THE STAND-BY PLANT The development of power from tho Hutt River has been discussed again lately, and reference has been miado to tho report of Mr. E. Parry, the' late Chief Electrical Engineer, on this sub ject. Mr- Parry mentioned the Hutt itivar in his first report on the development of hydro-elect! ic power in the Nortli Island, early in 1917, and ho did not modify his opinion in any later report. It was in this report that lie laid par : ticular stress oil-the importance of concentrating effort oil tho utilisation of sources capable of producing very Urge amounts of power, "As reaards a source of supply for tho Wellington district," said .Mr. Parry, "considerable difficulty has been encountered in finding a sourco which satisfies all the requirements, because, although the rivers are numerous, they do not lend themselves to economical development, and as a rule the power to be derived from any one source is small compared with the requirements. If. has teen suggested that the Hutt liiver wculd form a suitable sourco for supplying tho southern end of the Wellington district. The amount of water is barely adequate for the needs of Wellington City if provision is to be made for natural growth and progress, whilst for tho amount of power available the cost of developmrnt is excessive. In- any caso the amount of water obtainable is not large enough to 6upply an extended district, whilst _ a power station in the Manawatu district is well situated for supplying Wellington, Wairarapa, and parts of the' llawke's Bay and Taranala districts, I avina regard to thß distances and tho U"wer to be supplied in each locality. After considerable investigation the most suitable sourco for the supply of the southern district is found to be the Mangahao River." In the -same report Mr. Parry proposed Olie use of the steam stand-by plant in Wellington City. "In the design of this scheme," he said in referonce to tie Mangaiao installation. "I propose to adopt a new principle in regard to the provision of a 6tand-by. It is necessary to . provide an additional power unit over OJid (ibove t'he power obtainable from the source, so as to permit of the overhaul and repair of machinery.' The usual method is to inst»l an extra unit of water-power'plant in the" power-house. In the present instance I propose that the stand-by unit should be a complete steam set: . . . I would propose, further, instead of installingl the steam . unit at the power house, to take advantage of tlie fact that Wellington City has -already a steam plant installed, which is of the capacity required for the purpose aforesaid, and as they will deem it advisable and prudent to maintain, this in running, condition to provide against temporary' inter* vuptions of the supply, which are inevitable on every transmission system, there should be no difficulty about coming to terms for the use of this plant for relieving the load on tho water-power plant in case of necessity. Some modification of t'he existing Wellington plant may be necessary to lit in with this scheme,-but this "is a detail about which there should be no difficulty in a. matter wthich is to the advantage ■ of' both parties." , Mr. Parry appears to have contemplated an arrangement between the Government and the Wellington City Council for the modification of the city power plant, in order to link- it), with the Mangahao hydro-electric station."