ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEM

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 33, 8 February 1935, Page 37 (Supplement)

ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEM

NEW ZEALAND'S power system cannot be compared to "Topsy" and said to have "just growed." As it now exists, it can be said to be the result of national planning. But its beginnings were not systematic and the national, plan has had to be modified and adapted from time to time and place to place in order to graft on to the national stem the scattered sprouts ' which had'started up independently. ,

The Water Power Act of i 903 vested in,the Crown all the rights to utilise water in rivers, lakes, etc., for the generation of power; but contained provisions whereby ' the Government might inappropriate circumstances, delegate its powers to suitable persons or organisations.

' Prior to the passing of that Act there had been a certain amount of development of jelectriciiy, both by water and steam power, and in this respect New Zealand was well in the forefront of world progress.

, In 1887 Reefton was lit by i electricity generated by water from a water/race leading from the Inangahua River to a site opposite Reefton. The promoter of the scheme, .Walter Prince,! actually lighted Dawson's Hotel by means of a one horse-power dynamo, home-made, driven by the steam engine of a local brewery, in 1886, but this can be regarded as experimental and for demonstration purposes only. The Reefton organisation has isurvived and:operated continuously, for 47 years, and it 13 unfortunate, for the progressive people who started and continued the effort, that Reefton has not been one of the towns of New Zealand which, have progressed. As the methods of utilising electricity became more diversified and its use should have expanded the population decreased, so that the pioneers did not reap the reward-that their enterprise deserved. The plant now consists of an 86 k.w. water-driven and an 80 k.w. Diesel set.' '■■■'' '■ ■ '.'...- ---■'.'. THE PIONEER PLANT. i 'Reefton was more than the pioneer of. New Zealand; it actually was the 'first town south of;the Line to have a public electric light system. About the same time.the Ross United Gold Mine was lighted by electricity. Two years later the first electric dredge in the world was designed and built by the late Mr. R. C. Jones, .one .of the founders of the firm of Turnbull and Jones, and worked successfully with hydraulically developed direct current at 1300 volts 44 years ago. /• Wellington was only about a year later than Reefton in having hydro-electric street lighting, from the town mains being utilised.' Five |ears laterj in 1893, the Harris Street steam station was started up, and from then onwards the record was one of steady progress and expansion in the uses of electric energy; for instance, in 1904 the tramways commenced running by electric power. Hydro power, which had been abandoned in 1893, again came into favour, and in 1925 the city joined up. with the State hydro-electric mains. In 1924, the present steam station, of 10,000 k.w., at Evans Bay, was completed, and it has since s played an important part in assisting the general service.

: Taranaki was early in the hydro-electric 'field; Stratford in 1898, Patea in 1901, Hawera in, 1902, and New Plymouth and Inglewood in 1905 being reticulated.

; Christchurch in 1904 and Auckland in 1908 installed steam electric plants in conjunction with the city destructors, and the plants were later enlarged.

In 1907 Dunedin was lighted from Waipori Falls, and this station continuously, improved and extended, still supples Dunedin and a large area surrounding it; and although not taken over by the State, will soon be inter-connected with the Government stations, and an integral part of the national system.

While this independent action was being taken all over the country, the general Government was engaged in collecting information as to the waterpower available through New Zealand, and in 1904 a comprehensive report was prepared by the late Mr. P. S. Hay, superintending engineer (and later. Engirieer-in-Chief) of the Public Works Department. This described, in considerable detail; the power then known to be available, amounting to half a million horsepower in the North Island and over three million in the South Island. The detail survey of some of these potential sources was put in hand, and the collection of statistical data on stream flows and rainfalls commenced, or extended. In 1910, the Government decided to import^ an engineer of high standing, experienced in hydro-electric development, to advise on the systems to be adopted, the schemes to be developed, and the legislation necessary to control the business, and also to direct the design of the works decided upon. Mr. Evan Parry was appointed, and took up his duties in the

middle of 1911, remaining in New Zealand for approximately eight years.

As the scheme outlined by Mr. P. S. Hay for the generation of power at Lake Coleridge appeared to possess very favourable characteristics in respect to permanency, cheapness, and an assured market, the Government decided that it should be the first to be developed, and work was put in hand in the beginning of 1911. A major part of the work was the driving of a tunnel 7000 ft long from the banks of the Rakaia River to a point under the waters of Lake Coleridge. "The work involved some difficulties, the contractor did not make adequate progress

ago electricity for public use was unknown in Nero Zealand, qJ 1 but in 1887 Reef ton became the first town in the Southern Hemisphere to have a public electric light system. To-day, practically the whole of the " population is served by electric power lines. The story of the growth of the electric supply system, utilising the abundant water power of New Zealand's rivers and lakes, is a most interesting one. The work has been carried out with remarkable speed, so that the demands of the population have been Well met as they developed; but the future holds enormous possibilities. In the North Island the water-power possibilities have already been well exploited and the practical limit is not very much greater. In the South Island, however, the potential electrical supply runs into almost astronomical figures, and future enterprise may make New Zealand into one of the great industrial countries of the world. _ ; fByF. W. Furkert, C.M.G., A.M.1.C.E., 1 ' - II A.M.J.M.E. ~

as required by the specifications and conditions, and after considerable argument the work was taken over by the Public Works engineers and greatly expedited, and completed in time to coordinate with the rest of the contracts. In 1915 supply to Christchurch was' commenced, and here may be given an indication of the growth of the business. The first installation consisted of 4500 k.w. in three units, but in fourteen years this had had to be increased to 34,000 k»w., the last two units being 7500 k.w. each. In the first year the maximum demand was under 1200 k.w., but in 1930 it had. risen to 30,800 k.w. In 1918* Mr. Parry found his investigations into suitable sources of power sufficiently ad-

urban population. The "diversity" between the maximum demands of such diverse areas would tend to cheapen the cost to both classes, and the total business would be adequate to justify and pay a competent staff. This latter is a very important factor from the standpoint of efficiency, and could not have been otherwise attamed. The Power Boards Act, 1918, was accordingly passed, the Dominion was divided into tentative areas, the idea being that the centre of gravity of load in each should be conveniently placed for the installation of a main substation on the main transmission lines, or to suit some already available, or proposed, source of power. Twenty-six power boards now

vanced to .enable him to make final decisions, and he presented his report on.what should be done in the North Island. He recommended his now well-known inter-connected scheme, the main stations being Mangahao, Waikaremoana, and Arapuni. These stations were to be joined up by means of ring mains so arranged that any one station'could assist any other station or stations when required. These three stations are now running'connected, but the final link direct from Arapuni. to Waikaremoana, to complete the ring, is not yet forged, a gap from Rotorua or Whakatane to Waikaremoana still having to be bridged.

Up till that time Mr. Parry had in mind the control of the whole business by the Government from generation right to the consumer's apparatus, but the progress already made indicated that the business would be huge, and that decentralisation was desirable. Mr. Parry advised that in laying its plans for generating and supplying power the Government should assume a demand-equal to one-fifth of a horse-power per person.

It had been felt that if the provision of power were left to-private enterprise it was certain that the richest and most densely-populated parts would be exploited first, thus rendering very slender the chances of the country districts being served. Hence the decision for State control. Secondly, if the distribution, were entrusted to the existing local bodies there would be the same tendency for the densely-populated parts, i.e., the cities and towns, to obtain the service, and the country districts to be left unprovided for. Furthermore, there would be too many bodies handling electric supply, many quite unqualified to do so. One of the prime considerations of the Government policy was amelioration of-the conditions of country people, particularly, the small dairy farmers, thus slowing down the drift to the cities. It was therefore decided in 1918 that the end could best be attained by the constitutibn of new elective bodies representing areas 'each covering a combination of rural and

the exciter sets intended for the permanent installation. This plant was intended to supply plant power- for the main works, and in the meantime to supply power to Wairoa and district. Actually before the main works were started the latter market had absorbed all the power, and the small station had to be duplicated to provide construction power. In 1924, a contract was let for the Arapuni dam and power station, but after three years the contractors found themselves unable to continue, and at the end of 1927 the Government took over the works and completed them with its own staff. In 1926, Waikaremoana main works were commenced, and power was delivered in January, 1929. UNIFORM SYSTEM ADOPTED. Originally the stations erected independently had followed various systems. Direct current (two and three wire) and alternating current of various voltages and frequencies, mostly single phase, were all employed. Out of 55 generating stations in 1920, only 22 were operating on the standard system, but gradually the Government's decision to adopt three-phase, 50----cycles, alternating current had its effect. The later stations were built to this standard, and older ones were gradually modified to enable them to link up with the Government supply when it should become available. The officers of the Government were engaged in a strenuous and sustained effort to convince the various power undertakings, whether privately owned or under the control of local bodies, that to take supply from the Government lines would be to their ultimate.advantage. Naturally the prospective customers tried to get better terms than the Government offered, and sometimes the contest resembled a game of poker; but the Government officers always, held the best cards, so that the bluffing was generally on the other side. Gradually the figurative light was diffused amongst the local representatives and the material light followed, so that today the Government's stations supply the vast majority of the light and power requirements of New Zealand. Even such large outside organisations as Dunlin CU™ »~A »v,^

operate in the North Island and 19 in the South v lsland. In anticipation of the Government construetion proposals at Arapuni, and in order to build up a load in the Waikato and adjacent districts, the Government in 1919 purchased the Horahora hydro-electric station, which had been installed by the Waihi.Gold Mining Company in 1913 to provide power for the mines ■at Waihi. The station had a capacity of 6300 k.w., and three' years after purchase it was increased to 10,300 k.w. All available power from the station was soon taken up. In the same year, 1919, preliminary workv had-been started at Mangahao. The country being wild and almost unsettled, roads had to be made to the site of the works, a sawmill established, and houses for the staff and workmen built, and in 1920 the works proper began, The station commenced to supply power in 1924, and was overloaded in two -and a half years. In 1922, a start was made at Waikaremoana, by the construction of.a small plant, utilising

Southland Power Board will soon be taking part of their requirements from the Government lines. i*" ' The first high-tension transmission ' line, in the national system was put into use in 1915, from Coleridge to Addington, 65 miles, and now in under twenty years 93 per cent, of the population is within reach of electric power lines, there being 1800 miles of extra high-ten-sion. lines and 20,000 miles of various lower voltages. These latter figures are still being continually increased. In the years of rapid expansion the lines appeared like magic—6443 mile's in one'year—over five hundred miles per month! •. ' - • The main \North Island stations. are now all supplying large quantities of power. Mangahao has an output of 24,000 horse-power, which" cannot -under existing conditions, as to price of current and constructive costs, be increased, Waikaremoana provides 40,000 horse-power, and this can be increased to 140,000 horse-power, The Arapuni station, on the Waikato River!

supplies 60,000 horse-power, and this output can be doubled by installing additional generators.

The South Island stations are: Lake Coleridge, 46,000 horse-power; Waitaki, 40,000 horse-power; Waipori, 28,000 horse-power; and Lake Monowai, 16,000 horse-power. The figures represent the projected development in each case. The Waipori and Monowai plants are not Public Works stations, one being controlled by the Dunedin City Council and the other by the Southland Power Board. There are in addition a large number of independently-established stations in both islands. FACTS ABOUT CONSUMPTION. A few facts on the consuming side up to date may be of interest, particularly with a view to seeing what the.prospects are for increased business without assuming new industries or other revolutionary changes. At present the proportion of domestic consumers who have electric water heaters is only about 20 per cent., while in at least one district where the authorities have set out to educate the public and to encourage the use of water heaters, the ratio has been raised to 90 per cent. Similarly with ranges, the respective figures are under 14" per cent, and over 50 per cent. If the number of other common domestic types of apparatus be raised in all districts to the level in those now most developed, the total result would go far towards doubling the present number of units sold and consequently enormously increasing the revenue of both the Government and the distributing authorities. The natural concomitant of this would he a lowering of costs for all parties. Naturally to bring about this condition a vast sum would have to be spent by consumers for apparatus, something like £15,000,000, while on the generation and distribution side perhaps a further £10,000,000 would be called for. This may by some be looked-' upon as a waste of money, but it should be remembered that where the large utilisation figures quoted are current, the consumers had to be satisfied that their expenditure was justified before they installed the appliances they did. And it is almost-a maxim amongst distribution officers that they get more new business from old customers than from fresh ones. Per domestic consumer the annual consumption is only a little over 1000 units in New Zealand, but the average for Canada is over 2000, while in Winnipeg, where a special "load building" campaign has been carried on for some years, the figure is well over 4000 units. In 1920, Winnipeg's figure was less than New Zealand's present figure, but a vigorous educative and selling campaign raised this to bver double in three years, and this new figure was again doubled in the next six years, and it is still growing: vigorously. Even during-the depression of the four years 1929*t0 1933 the electric ranges and electric water, heaters in New Zealand increased by 14 per cent, per annum, average, and milking machines; by 12 per cent, per annum, and this during a time when the dairy industry has been hit harder than the average business by the slump. When Government supply began to be available and. propaganda was justified to induce the public to avail themselves of the advantages of electric power, the figures of use and consumption began to advance by leaps and bounds. In 1925 there were 0n1y'1526 electric ranges in use, in one year the number trebled, and that number doubled the next year; by 1928 the number was ten times greater than in 1925, be- . fore 1932 it had doubled again, and in 1933 stood at 33,723, over twenty times the figure of eight years before; and still increasing. There are seven times as many water heaters as there were in use seven years ago, and electric milking machines have grown from 3581 in 1925 to almost 16,000 in 1933.

The capital invested in the electrical system, outside of customers' expenditure for apparatus (worth probably £10,000,000), totals over £31,000,000, and the money distributed in working expenses within the Dominion exceeds a million pounds annually, while after paying interest, working expenses, putting aside depreciation provision and sinking fund reserves, there is a net profit of almost £300^000. A business which employs between three and four thousand people and has an annual turnover of over four and a half .millions sterling, and which supplies one of the greatest boons which the ingenuity of man-has given to modern civilisation to over 90 per cent, of the population, cannot be regarded as .otherwise than a t most important and vital factor of our national * life. , '- -' '■• •. ' ■■ :

'Whereas.in '1920 water-power only generated half of the total electric energy used, in 1933 this had altered to 99.5 per cent.;'with steam only a little over one-third of 1 per cent., and gas and oil making up the balance of the power for the connected load of over 1,100,000 k.w. This must be regarded as a triumph for those who initiated, designed, and carried through the hydro-electric undertaking.