WAITAKI POWER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24406, 18 September 1940, Page 8

WAITAKI POWER

OUTPUT OF STATION NEW GENERATOR COMPLETED CAPACITY TO BE DOUBLED (Special to Daily Times) CHRISTCHURCH, Sept. 17 ! Completion of the No. 3 generating unit at the Waitaki hydro-electric power station and its readiness for testing within the next few weeks were'announced yesterday by the district electrical engineer to the Public Works Department. Mr R. G. MacGibbon. The assembly of a fourth generating unit is proceeding, and should be completed early next year. The present, maximum capacity of the station, 30,000 kilowatts, will therefore be doubled before next winter, and this is expected to help substantially in meeting the increasing demands for power on the South Island supply system. The " drying-out" of the new generator was begun last week,. and should be completed within about three weeks. The machine will then be out on test, and after its performance has proved satisfactory it will take its part in meeting the ordinary commercial load. Following the usual practice, the engineers are drying the generator by running it, shortcircuited, at nearly full speed. This generates sufficient internal heat to dry the mechanism thoroughly, and is much cheaper and just as efficient as the use of blasts of hot air. The generator is the third of the five for which the station was designed. A.ll the machinery for the No. 4 unit has now arrived in New Zealand and should be at Waitaki within the next week or so. The department's staff has been giving attention to preliminary work on this unit whenever time could be spared from the assembly of the No. 3 generator. The runner for this machine has now been placed in position. The electrical branch of the Public Works Department in Canterbury has been busy also on the construction and alteration of transmission lines necessary for the expansion of the power generating system over the next few years. In addition to the development of the Waitaki station's capacity, there will be a new station of large capacity at Highbank, operated on the surplus water from the Rangitata irrigation race, and another station at Lake Tekapo. , ~ - It is hoped that the delivery of machinery for the Highbank power station, will be commenced early in January. Transformers for stepping up the supply from the generator for transmission at a voltage of 66,000 are due at the end of this month.