Dunedin’s Waipori hydroelectric plant discharges water from its Pelton wheel turbines in 1907. Most New Zealand hydroelectricity is generated using Francis turbines, which rely on water pressure, while Pelton turbines are driven by the water’s velocity, or speed.
The Waipori scheme, an early private/public partnership, ran into a number of teething problems. Sheep dislodged rocks which damaged the flume along which water for the station ran, there was no water storage, and the river flow did not allow both generators to run at full capacity continuously. By 1948, when station engineer Frank Collins was interviewed, the scheme was effectively rebuilt. It included the first remote controlled power station in the Southern Hemisphere.
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Reference: 36285
Image: Otago Daily Times, Otago Witness, 20 March 1907
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