GEOTHERMAL PROJECT'S FIRST POWER GENERATED

Taupo Times, Volume IV, Issue 193, 7 October 1955, Page 1

GEOTHERMAL PROJECT'S FIRST POWER GENERATED

At 6.30 p.m. on Monday, October 3, Ihe first power ' from the Wairakei Geothermal Project was generated in the small power house near the junction of the Putaruru-Rotorua highways. The occasion was an informal one, those present being rnainly project personnel keenly interested in seeing the first-fruits of their pioneering work. Several Taupo residents were also present, iqcluding the Mayor, Mr J. E. Story. The turbine-driven vertical Curtis alternator set, as installed, operates on one stage only, from 1601bs per square inch to atmospheric pressure and will probably have an output of about 200 k.w. Steam from bore No. 4/2, which is 6in in diameter and is down 1500 feet, goes through a Ubend separator followed by a cyclone separator, the resultant dry steam then going to the turbine. The bore has been blowing steadily for some four years. Though there was not much conversation among the spectators in the power house, due to the noise from a near-by bore, it was obvious that all appreciated that the occasion marked a high-point, both in the work of the project staff over the past few years, and in the history of the development of electric power in New Zealand. Power from the unit will be used in the project's workshops and offices at Wairakei.