ELECTRICAL ENERGY.

Shannon News, 28 January 1927, Page 2

ELECTRICAL ENERGY.

DEVELOPMENT IN NEW ZEALAND

ADDRESS BY MR J. A. SMITH. An instructive address on "The Development of Hydro-Electricity in New Zealand-" was given on Friday, at the luncheon of the Levin Chamber of Commerce, by Mr J. A. Smith, engineer to the Horowhenua Power Board. There was a good attendance of members, over whom Mr B. Magee presided.. In introducing the speaker, Mr Magee said that Mr Smith had been associated with electricity practically all his life and had been concerned in tb>? first installation in New Zealand. GENESIS IN THE EIGHTIES. Mr Smith stated that the history of electricity in New Zealand commenced well back in the eighties,, when some of the mining companies installed some water-power plants. The Phoenix Goldmining Oompanv, in 1893, installed a plant at Miller's Flat, and in .1900 they had a power plant operating Avhich drove a bucket dredge. The first plant for supplying electricity to the public was-in stalled 40 years ago, at Reef ton. The current was-generated by a 27-foot head of water through turbines, and the first reticulation of Reef ton was by lead-covered underground cables, insulated irfsido. Three years ago one of the cables dug up, and the insulation round the wires was found to j be iff-good condition. After some years a steam plant was installed, but subsequent to that, the hydro plant was redesigned and a new turbine put, in, which w:us supplying current to the town at present. Wellington,- in 1889, had a hydro plant, run by four vortex turbines! A steam plant was put in bv the Electrical Syndicate in 1902. The original plant was installed under contract to supply the street-lighting, with only 500 20 \\p. lamps. The voltage el: 'the alternators was 1500, aiid this was transformed to 100 volts for tiustreet lights. It was intended to supply the current to houses, but it was found that there was not sufficient water, and so a steam plant had to be installed. The next installation was one of 120 horse-power, in the Patea river, and it was still running. A SOUTHERN PIONEER.

\i Ju 1899 aMr Richardson, who had a j. small flourmill near Outram, on the !. Taieri Plains, put in a Pelton wheel, ' t the belt from which drove a general >r " 0 and gave current to the township, about a mile away. This lit firm 12 to 15 street lamps at night, and in tin. da<l [ time the current worked a small motor . s to pump water up to a tower in the '. township. Mr Richardson had a good deal to do with the development of the '" original company that was going to -" work the Waipori. The Tourist Department next established a power-house at Okere Falls, S in the Rotorua district, in 1901. Anc other plant was established at Patea 11 in the same year. Hawera followed in s 1903, and then Inglewood and Mataura, e the paper mills at the latter place hav ing a plant set up in 1905 which also '• supplied current to Gore. e In 1906, Te Aroha borough put in a - plant, as also did New Plymouth. Wai i pori,'established in the same year, wa.7 v fhe 'first scheme of any size. In 1907, i a plant was put in at Kaneiri, which transmitted current to Ross, where it was going to be used for pumping, in - a deep-level mine. Either t.ierr. was i not enough gold, or there was too much j water, and the mine had to be given .. up. The plant now supplied Hokit'.ku ;. and Ross and a big gold dredge. [ LATER INSTALLATIONS . Coming te recent years, Mr Smith T quoted the following installations: — '.. .1911, a small plant in Nelson: 1912, ''a'hape; 1913, Horahoia and IN. angawckn; 1914, Ohakune; 1915, Tawnuru- - ;;ai, Lake Coleridge, Havcloch Norh, In(i'* ; "m;i Wairoa> Purthti'd. Cement - Work;-, Wiiihi, and ( amaru (vVaitaki); t 1918, Akaroa; 1920, Opunake; 1922 .FairJey, Murchison, and Whaka- . Lane: and in 1923, Wairarapa and Wai'-nremoana. The 1 mt -named was . started in a small way for the town- . ship, with preliminary works f'.>r th. Government's larger scheme In 1924 , the Cheviot Town Board and Manga- [ Into schemes were instituted. I L THE WAIPORI SCHEME. - of Waipori, Mr Smith stated Hint a syndicate was formed in Dune- . din "by Mess-.s Lawson and Richardson, '. I who had the idea of harnessing the Waipori river to provide about 1000 ! i kilowatt... They formed the Waipori Power Co., and Mr Starke,, an Ameri can. was engaged to install the scheme. Another small scheme was put in han-1 on the Leith stream, but eventually the promoters dropped that and went on with the Waiptri scheme. They installed two machines of 1000 k.w. each a J . ■' first. They subsequently enlarged this 'plant, and it now produced 11,000 kiloi watts, supplying current down as far j :is Balclutha and up to Palmerotou South. For the original scheme tlu-y ' had an intake in the Waipori river anc ! a Hume of about one mile fifty-si: j chains, made of birch, which was cur i in the district, and measured six feet j by four feet. It did not take long foi • the birch to rot away, and now ard then there would be- a break in the flume. | On one occasion 50 or 60 feet of it : was carried away by a boulder which came down the lull. Next there w-s ! a cloudburst which washed away the ' filling from under the pipes and caused j a burst, which scoured the hill out. ■ This flume came from the river aloug- ! side of the hill to a surge chamber 675 I feet above the station Subsequently ! the syndicate drove a tunnel through j the hill and discarded the fhiming They ! had considerable trouble in getting the j machinery down to the staticn, the*-. 1 being no road ot it. The plant had to be taken by rail to Lawrence and over clay roads to a point about 900 feet above the power house and lowered down by a gravitation tramway with a grade of one in two-and-ahalf. LAKE COLERIDGE. At one time the Christchurch City Council was making investigations with the idea of harnessing Lake Coleridge, but the Government stepped in, and instead of supply Christchurch alone, decided that the scheme must supply ' the whole of Canterbury. In. 1910 tho

Aid to Water Power Act was passed, which gave the Government power to develop water-power, with prior rights; also to borrow up to £500,000 to develop the seh::nes in New Zealand. Mr Par iv was appointed Chief Electrical" Engineer iu March, 1911, and the Government went straight ahead with the Lake Coleridge scheme. This was originally planned for 4500 k.w., made up of three units; but it was soon found that the demand for power was very much greater than these machines could supply, consequently they had a fourth unit operating in 1917. In 1922 the. plant was enlarged again, and the capacity brought up to 12,000 k.w. From this it was increased to 27,000, which

was the present capacity.' They had a good deal in hand, but he believed they were getting such a -demand for power that some other scheme was necessary and they were making a survey of othcM sources furthojg south to link up with the Lake '" Coleridge scheme N

In the early days of the Lake Coleridge scheme the Government soon found that the load grew so quickly that the plant was using all the water in the lake, and the level was dropping so much that they had to go further afield raid get more water. They made a race a mile and a-quarter long to the Harper river, and turned a good proportion of it round the hill into the other water-shed and so into the lake. At the same time they lowered the level of the intake, so that they could use the lake at a lower level. Th;; water was taken by a tunnel from the lake for a mile and a-quarter, and this gave a head »f 480 feet to the power house. In the early stage of the scheme the double line' to Christchurch was of plain aluminium, but the cables subsequently were reinforced by steel inside" ro give them strength. The severe climatic conditions, with heavy snow iu winter, used to bring the lines down. There was also trouble witli the insulators, which had since been all replaced, while the lines were now constructed of copper. They had three lines now going to Christchurch, the distance to the outskirts at Addington being 63 miles. Two lines went to Timaru, about 84 miles sway, and supplied Ashburton, Timaru, and other towns. PRESENT USES OF CURRENT.

In the early days of electrical supply, Mr Smith remarked, electricity was used mostly for lighting purposes, but motors and heating appliances had greatly increased in the interval. Only one-eighth of the current per candlepower was now needed for lighting compared with the old days, and the energy for lights was comparatively small against that used for other purpose-!. Mr Smith quoted some interesting figures in this 'jonnection. The total number of electric ranges in use in New Zealand on March'3l. 1926, was 4671. and at the present time the number was estimated at well over 6000. Water heaters at the date mentioned numbered 6654, and there were '4856 milking plants being operated by electricity. This represented a big -saving to the country, owing to the current ■displacing benzine and other fuel. The saving was equivalent to 145,600 cas'3=s of benzine, which, at 15s a caj.e, meant that £109,260 was being kept in the country on account of milking machine power alone. In addition there were many country houses, previously lit by benzine plants and kerosene, etc, which were now illuminated by electricity. If the total saving could be made up, it would be very surprising. The number of consumers had increased very rapidly, both as affecting hydro and steam plants. Consumers connected in 1924 were 124,705, and in 1926. 192,39iS —an increase of 67,687. The units sold were 173,895,000 in 1924, and 268,239,000 in 1926; these figures related to all'the plants —~tcam, water, gas and oil — throughout the Dominion. There were 51 power stations at present operating in New Zealand. Thirty-four wero wafer power, six steam, eight gas, and three oil; and their'total capacity was 127,017 kilowatts. MUCH MONEY INVESTED. The Government expenditure on hydro-electric wor}*- to the end of 1916 was £362,000; five years later it had ris-m to £1,072,000, and by 1926 it was £5;,134,000 The expenditure by the supply authorities to 1926 was six and a-half millions. There would have to be added the cost to consumers for installation!:, the figures for which were not. available, but, would probably run into two millions. The capital for the Lake Coleridge ochr.mc was £1,366,951; the revenue last year was £123,354, and the operating cost £27,000, leaving a balance of abouj £96,000. After paying interest snd 2 per cejit. depreciation there was £26,646 left over; of this, 17,000 odd was put aside to help to wipe off the accr niulated deficit from' the profit and loss account of previous years, find £BOOO to the sinking fund. The Horahora scheme was put in by the Waihi Goldmining Company, but with a purchasing clause. The capital iunvested therein was £735,000. The revenue was nearly £86,000 and the ""* operating cost £19,612. After paying interest and depreciation there was a profit of £21,340. In conclusion, Mr Smith referred to the growth of electrical development in Switzerland where, he said, practically the whole of the railways were electrified. At the end of 1925 the total Swiss' capacity was 1,850,000 horsepower, or 0.47 h.p, per inhabitant; and the number of units generated in that year was 4,170,000. A hearty vote of thanks was accord-: ed by acclamation to Mr Smith, on tht motion of Mr K. Aitken, seconded by Mr Bould The hope was expressed by Mr Aitken that Mr Smith would be able to address the members again and perhaps give them an aeciunt of thy woi king of the Mangahao hydro-electrie system. Mr Smith in responding said he would be only too pleased to give some information about Mangahao relating to the manner of it's working, the diffh culties of construction, and various other features