The Power Game

Nope, this has nothing to do with John Wilder or any construction company. This story is about the commodity you cannot see, smell or touch, but which you're going to pay extra for in October. It's the one commodity which, in today's living and working, we cannot do without. Electricity. In particular, the story is about the Cobb power scheme, the Nelson district's chief supplier of power.

The Cobb station, at which the power is actually generated, is in mountainous country at the junction of the Cobb and Takaka rivers, 70 miles from Nelson. Water, source of the power, is brought nearly three miles from a man-made lake 1950ft above the station, by tunnel and twin penstocks. The Cobb scheme came into operation in 1944, but a water supply problem induced the authorities to dam the Cobb Valley. This allowed them to increase the size of the station from 12,000 to 32,000 kilowatts, by adding two 10,000 kilowatt generators. Construction of the dam commenced in 1949 and was completed in 1954.

All the power which is generated at the station is used within the Nelson district, and as well, additional power comes to Nelson, by way of Kikiwa, from Islington, Christchurch.

This picture shows the Cobb dam, with the spillway prominent in the foreground.

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This picture, taken by the New Zealand Forest Service, shows the dam under construction in 1953. Key to the numbers is as follows:-

1: Intake pipes. Here the water enters a cluster of pipes and travels 450ft along a tunnel (2) to the gate shaft house (3). Here, 100ft below the surface, screens filter the water of any extraneous material before it flows out through the main tunnel (4) on the start of its 2½ mile trip to the station. This tunnel, of 1⅝ miles, was cut out of rock. The huge spillway (5) has four gates which control the level of the lake. (Compare the height of this building with the height of the completed spillway building on the opposite page). The shovel-shaped vent in front of the spillway building was a temporary spillway used to control the water level during construction of the dam.

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The Cobb station is linked to the outside world by a tortuous road through almost virgin bush country. For most of the way it runs alongside the Takaka River. At the end of the 10-mile trip from Upper Takaka, the motorist comes upon the station village, a cluster of 12 houses and a hostel, above the Takaka River (left). The hostel, which houses the single operators and apprentices is at bottom right. Close by, right at the junction of the two rivers, is the power station, into which snake the twin penstocks. The penstocks, side by side at the top of the rise, finish their journey on top of each other. The total staff at the station is 28, of whom 17 reside in the village.

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A few pix of some of those who see to it that we have the power we need for work at home and in industry.

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Gate house attendant at the dam, Harry Foster, and one of the screens used to keep rubbish out of the tunnel.

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The huge control panel at the station where we caught Stan Kerr taking readings and Don Barrett at the communications desk

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Two fitters at the station: Rod Burbery and David Nicholls.

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The hostel mother, Mrs Mary Bradley, at the stove.

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Head fitter at the station, and happy in his work: Harry Andrews.

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A school bus takes the kiddies to Upper Takaka each day (and here we found driver Don Jamieson with Donna Barrett, Debra Miles, Alan Kerr, Anthony Miles and Christopher Miles.

End of the line for the power lines from the Cobb is the Stoke sub-station. On the trip across to Stoke, some of the power is diverted to the Golden Bay and Motueka areas, but most reaches the Stoke sub-station. Because the Nelson district needs more power, a new line is to be brought into Stoke from Islington, and this will require the Stoke station to be up-graded to the 220,000 volt level. Work on these additions at Stoke is at present under way. Because they are no longer required, the six diesel generators which used to feed into the system at Stoke are to be sold. Four of these six are shown at right. Below, keeping tabs on the situation at Stoke, is Stan Illes.

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