Power for Auckland

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 81, 27 June 1927, Page 8

Power for Auckland

AUGMENTING KING’S WHARF STATION

rE movements of Auckland’s population are reflected on a multitude of dials in the Hobson Street transformer station, whence power for the tramway services is d ls . tributed. Formerly the main generating plant in Auckland, th e Hobson Street station, is now little more than a receiving agency for the King’s Wharf plant, the largest steam generating plant in New Zealand.

~|-)ELAY at Arapuni has a corollary at the King’s Wharf, where space, in an already crowded building, is being found for another turbine, to be shifted from Hobson Street. Much of the heavy lifting has been done and the main gear transplanted, but it will be some months yet before the turbine will be running. Extra boilers will be necessary at the King's Wharf to produce the steam to drive the turbine, and their foundations are now in course of preparation. SONG OF THE ENGINES At Hobson Street, along with the old vertical engines, and now disused smokestacks, the turbines had been simply a monument to the days when the old building throbbed in tune with the power-generating engines. It still throbs, but less resonantly, for the plant running to-day is for conversion purposes, and does not serve the primal function of producing current. King’s Wharf, on the other hand, almost quakes with the press of industry as the mighty turbines and giant vertical units chant their ceaseless, rhythmic song. 'Hereabouts, when strings of lights flicker into unity along the shadowy streets, and windows become bright against the gloom of twilight, the song of the engines takes on a d per note, in answer to Auckland’s demand for extra power. Not only is it current for lights and streets that they must supply, but also the motive

power lor the trams, with their leven. ish rush-hour periods, worst of all of which is close on 5 o’clock in the eveaPOWERFUL PLANT To meet the requirements of it., city, and large slices of rural terri tory as well, the King’s Wharf plant possesses three 5,000 kilowatt tap bines, one 3.000 k.w. turbine, and an other still smaller, while the latest acquisition from Hobson Street, is m generate 1,000 k.w. Also, there are seven machines producing direct cur rent, including four huge reciprocal ing triple-expansion units, and three turbines, driven by exhaust steam from the reciprocating engines. An the turbines generate alternating cur rent, but rotary converters are a'* tached to them, so that the current may be transformed to d.e„ which is required for tramway purposes. Interesting features at the Kin*’. Wharf station are the condenser srs. tem, fed direct from the Waitemata through an elaborate series of finely, meshed screens, and the automatic stokers, constantly supplied with coal from an endless series of conveyers, taking the coal direct from the truck’ Nearly 300 tons are consumed daily and machinery maintains the supply' There are also the cat and kittens’ coal-black—as they should be—and the pride of the station. Bred in an atmosphere of high tension, they are lively creatures, but are kept well away from the switchboards and the live-wire end of the establishment