The Victoria Falls Power Scheme.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 11, 2 September 1907, Page 408

The Victoria Falls Power Scheme.

The development of a colossal electrical undertaking, having as its source the worldfamous Victoria falls of the Zambesi river, and for its field of operation the fair conntiy of Rhodesia, and practically the whole of the new British South Africa, with its teeming wealth of precious minerals, is the foremost engineering topic of the day. The yoking of immense Niagara was a hundred days' wonder. Other waterfalls had already been impressed into service by the electrical man and so many have since been de\ eloped with entire success that the work of construction for the largest or smallest hydro-electric power-station presents no difficulties whatever. The immensity of the Victoria falls and their general nature is shown by illustration. The river at a point follows a strange course ; at the main fall its width is about a mile, immediately below its width is contracted in a precipitous gorge te 15 or 20yds., and its course is remarkably tortuous, consisting of several zig-zags with a rapid fall in level ; consequently the natural formation is ideal for hydraulic power purposes : there are no expensive works or long flumes to be provided, penstock and tail race

are practically included in this nature's gift. The head of water available by the suggested airangement of the promoters is 350 ft., and so far as can be decided at present, it is intended to put down hydro -electric plant of an aggregate output of 30,000 h.p., which shall be transmitted in the form of three-phase current of 12^ periods at a pressure of 150 000 volt=. This is to be the first instalment of an immense station which may eventually have an output of over 250,000 h.p. The transmission line of bare conductors supported on massive structural steel towers will be continued along the Rhodesian railway route to Johannesburg, a distance of about 600 miles. At the receiving end of the line it is proposed to erect a novel storage or conserving works, which shall serve to equalise the load on the transmission system, and at the same time form a reliable stand-by in the event of mishap to the main generating station or transmission line The surplus power will be utilised to raise water up to a large reservoir to be constructed on the adjacent hills, by which a hydraulic head of 600 ft. will be available for the regeneration of cunent. The lower reservoir of this novel system will be near the Crocodile river, from which all necessary make-up water can be obtained. It is, of course, vitally important that the continuity of the supply shall never fail ; on this installation will eventually depend practically all power-requiring industries in Rhodesia and the Transvaal, and any failure, of supply would be disastrous. In choosing this hydraulic storage there can be no doubt that the safest means has been selected : such works are permanent and essentially reliable. Moreover, there will be a further emergency reserve in the shape of a steam-driven power station, although this will not be provided for that specific purpose, and indeed should only be looked upon as quite secondary in this connection. Such a gigantic scheme as this could not reasonably be initiated in its entirety : the common -sense of commerce demands that it shall be a matter of progress, that it shall develop as power requirements increase. It is for this reason that a steam-driven power station is to enter the field as the forerunner of the more pretentious and more promising Victoria-falls-to-Rand-installation. The Victoria Falls Power Company has purchased the steam-electiic power station of the Consolidated Gold Fields, and from this it will provide for a total output of 24,000 h.p. This station will distribute current over a radius of about 30 miles at a pressure of 50,000 volts. As the demand for current increases additions will be made until the time arrives when the final step of linking up the Zambesi and the Transvaal is warranted by the power required. That this is the wisest and most reasonable course no one can doubt. There have been many opinions and criticisms, technical and non-technical, expressed as to the feasibility of the plan. It is indeed a venture of surpassing boldness, and like all such must bear its share of adverse criticism. Technically there is leally

nothing new about it : the distance is a little greater, and the electrical pressure a little higher, than those found in many another successful electrical transmission, and that is all. Once under way its reliability and general success as an engineering achievement is a moral certainty. So far as its commercial value is concerned, there are figures available as to first costs and running costs. These may serve as a guide towards an estimate, but they will not prove very much. Who can tell us what will be the limit of Rhodesian and British South African development ? Is not this vast territory loaded with varied wealth practically untouched ? Was it not an unbounded belief in this gem of the British Empire which built the Cape to Cairo railway ° There are men who know the potentialities of this virgin land, men who have alread> r reaped some reward for their courage as pioneers ; they ate the men who can best gauge the value of the Victoria falls power scheme, and they are the leaders in its promoiion.