ELECTRIFYING BRITAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 738, 10 August 1929, Page 33

ELECTRIFYING BRITAIN

HUGE POWER UNIFICATION SCHEME COUNTY COVERED BY GRID If John Bunyan, "a vagrant oft in quod, a private under Fairfax, a minister of God,” returned in any of these three capacities to his native Bedfordshire. he would be amazed to see the giant lattice-steel masts which are beginning to stride across the quiet countryside in token of the new era which is dawning in Britain, says an Englsh correspondent. The state of affairs which Bedford typifies is a monument to the industry of the Baldwin Government, which, in achieving the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1926, began tbe reorganisation of the electrical industry on the side of generation—the wholesale side, so to speak—thus bringing cheap power within the reach of all the industries of tiie country That Act created the Central Electricity Board as the steward of these gifts, so that by greatetr economy, more plentiful mo-tive-power, and increased productivity Britain should be better equipped to meet the competition of foreign countries. Before the board took control the situation was such that the country was divided for electrical purposes into a number of independent centres incompatible with generation on a large scale. There was, as it were, neither unity of command nor general staff. There are, as the Manchester “Guardian” points out, 600 electricity undertakings scattered throughout the land, most of them with their own generating stations, some efficient and some too small, and all hampered by artificial restrictions. The result is that while the combined plant far exceeds the country's total needs, every station is too small for the needs of its particular area. Isolated stations must carry plant not] only to meet the peak lead, hut to !

cope with breakdowns. Waste is f thus inevitable. Other countries have 1 profited by Britain’s mistakes, made up leeway, and advanced in the pro- a vision of the most flexible power a known to man. In Germany, Italy, c France and the United States elec- i trlcal supply has advanced in flashes, and has transformed manufacturing e production. i Having selected the most suitable t locations throughout Bri; n, the t hoard’s task was to build and join t by means of transmission lines known i collectively as “the grid,” a series of i stations which might then be operated j as a single system, replacing 600 un- t dertakings with a single unit. c i Five Areas Covered The board has already adopted . schemes for five areas coveriug nearly 1 half the country and three-quarters J o£ the population. Of the 328 sta- 1 tions in these areas, the board has 1 selected only 106, which, it is estimated, will release for revenue-earn- ] ing purposes, idle pluut to the value of £10,000,000. The construction of 1 the interconnecting grid is beiug expedited, and current is actually ‘ , passing over two sections of the lines. These are the lines covering the 20 . miles between Glasgow and Bonuybridge, and the nine miles between Bedford and Little Barford. The huge steel masts of the system carry cable lines running straight as ■ arrows from station to station. Each ] mast has a base 15ft square, and ; heavily insulated arms branch from the top to grip the cables. A barbed wire embrasure prevents anyone from climbing a mast to the sudden death • which would accompany- con- . tact with a cable. There is a redi letter warning notice: “Danger: 132,000 Volt Lines. Central Electrical Board.” ( Businesslike Ways The highest engineering and expert l 1 . knowledge is disposed by the board, j ; It is not a Government department j and is consequently free to carry out L its duties on a businesslike basis with- j ; i out the hampering restrictions which i

fetter the activities of other public 1 bodies. The board’s plans can always be adapted to the needs of the moment < and to profiting from fresh scientific i discoveries or from lessons learned c in the course of the work. Already an actual or prospective expenditure of £16,500,000 has been i incurred out of a total of £35,500,000 | which the board has been authorised | to borrow. Hitherto the payment of unnecessary interest has been obviated; but the board has now issued i its first public loan. Such a flotation must be regarded as an indication that the building of the "grid” is proceeding rapidly, and that soon electricity will be as cheap and plentiful iu England as anywhere. The national character of the board's functions put it in the class of the most favoured borrowers. Its fiTSt. issue will mostly likely be for a modest amount of stock—say. £3,000,00 at 4 per cent., with a long run, at a price of about 83. This, as "The Times” points out. would give investors a flat yield of more than 4 13-16 per cent., plus the attraction of a substantial bonus on redemption which would be free of tax.