Norwich bulletin., 1921-11-08
NORWICH IN SUPER POWER PLAN WHICH
 Is PROPOSED FOR NEW ENGLAND

ject upon which Secretary of the Interior Fall made report last week to President Harding. This report foreshadows the development of all available hydro cleo tric power In the Connecticut river as well as the building of large steam gen. erating plants and the possible utiliza- tion in this district of power developed in the St. Lawrence.
 This report is referred to in the appro- priation act under which congress pro- vided for the work as the special in- vestigation of the possible economy of fuel labor and material resulting from the use in the Boston Washington region of comprehensive system for general ing and distributing electricity to trans portation lines and industries" and gives estimates of the power to be developed during the next ten years.
 The plan as proposed in the report provides for the development of high ef- ficiency hydro-electric plants and of large steam plants on tidewater or on rivers large enough to provide sufficient cooling water for turbines, as well as for the linking together of all such plants in a way that will allow the transmits sion of power from the places where 1t may be most economically developed to those where the demand for it is great est. By eliminating in this way way the costly and comparatively inefficient pri- vate power plants now in use an enor- nous saving to the consumers of power, and eventually to the public, will un- doubtedly ensue.
 Saving of S100, ,o0O
 It is estimated that in the territory covered by the report, extending from the coast approximately 150 miles inland and embracing parts of Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, and all of Massachusetts Conneyticut Rhode Is- land and New Jersey the total coal saved annually under conditions reasonably ex- pected to develop by 1890 will be 50,- 000,000 tons. A possible saving of $780, 100000 year, with an increased output of product, can be realized by industry.
 The North Atlantic Coast region was chosen as the field of activities of the super-power commission because of the enormous industrial activity, concen- trated in this district which in an area of 2 per cent of the nation contains 22 per cent of the population of the United States and supports 96,000 industria
 
 roads, most of which are operated in- | dependently. Moreover, it is far more | important to str%Ny distribution and producti5n of power here than in such territories as the far west where there is an abundance Af waterpower which makes efficient transmission not so VI tai to industry, for the demands of the east are so great that the supply of en- ergy must be handled in the way that makes for the least possible waste. 1 Owing to the lack of sufficient water power steam plants must supplement the 1 hydro-electric stations, but 1t is hoped that after 1930 the improvements con- templated on the St Lawrence and en- | Niagara may add materially to the total of water-developed electricity.
 Large Investment Required.
 Economy, both if investment and | of operation is the purpose of the plan, l whose details were worked put by George 1 Otis Smith director of the Geologica. | Survey, with W. & Murray of New York as chief of the engineering staff The saving to be effected is estimated at one cent per kilowatt hour in first cost of i current as put on the transmission lines and this is expected to amount to $780, ! uNV.uVV q year Tn lnUuSCrlaI pants alone and to s42o ooooooo when all items. in- clud:ng the electric utilities themselves arc considered.
 To effect this savinr on investment by 1890 of s1.1o9, ,564,0 900 will be requir- ed. Only S693 21S,000 of this need be new money, however, as S400. .00o. .00C worth of steam and hydro-electric plants 1 already existing will be retained in ser vice. in addition to this amount as in vestment of s185aT)0. 900 for motor 1 equipment will have, to be made by the l industries served. thus bringing the to- tai amount up to s1.294564, 900. The annual yield of s429 O0O000 represent ing the amount saved, is 3 per cent. on this investment. Of the total amount re- i duired $104,o0o,o 900 represents the cost l of the transmission network and it's dis l tributing stations.
 Consideration of the railroads in the report shows that the cost of electrify- ing the 19,O0O miles of track that can efficiently be operated by electricity vii be s57o,0000o0 and that this outlay vii return an annual saving of sS1, 900, 900 or 14.2 per cent. In addition to the money saving there will be a reduction of con gestion, resulting from the elimination of the necessary handling of 49,9S4:00t short tons of coal now used in independ ently operated steam plants.
 Railroads to Be Electrified.
 Among the railroads to be electrified are the main line of the Boston & Al. bany between Springfield and Boston Tho New Haven between Springfield ant the section already operated electrically | beginning at New Haven, the Fitcbburs division of the Boston and Maine iron | fO YJ,r +1,, Winchendon, Webster and Milford branches of the Boston & Albany, anc the ShIe Line of the New Haven, be tween New Haven and Boston.
 The development of the Connection river calls for five plants whose location and usable fall are as follows: Fifteen. Mile Falls, N. H., 25o feet Piermon 50 feet; Quebec Falls, 45 feet Bellow Falls, 50 feet; Windsor Locks, B feet
 All these projects call for new construc ton upon now unused sites except tn Bellows Falls unit, which Is to he re development. Water storage would great ly add to the efficiency not only of tn proposed plants, but of others alread. in operation along the river. Storag has not, however, been provided in tn estimates.
 The following table gives data on tn projected development of these five pow CT sites, the 1930 figures being equiva lent to the. maximum possible develop s ment without storage:
 Total operating
 1sso 1925 head ........ 5a A2 Installed gener-
 kwt. ....... 5o.ooo 1850 a Ou+r,y+ In av-