Evening star., 1926-11-21
CHICAGO CURRENT
/. .::L|GH.TSUP BOSTON
1000 Mile Superpower Test
/ Successful, But Present
! Cost of Plan Too High.
~ Che Associated Press.

" the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, November 20.-Super
power-the hooking-up OF electric gen
Grating companies for the exchange o
ourrent-daily spins its intricate wei
Of interlaced wires.
Electric lamps in Boston were light
Cd yesterday with current provided BY
Chicago. ana a Florida cow may ye'
Be MIXED by current re!ayed from
she tumbling waterfalls of Minnesota
A dozen companies participated In :
1,000.mile test hook-up yesterday, but
In tho opinion Of Robert e. Dillon
head Of the regenerating department
Of one Of them, the Boston Edisor
Co. 500 900 volts would be required
for economical operation Of line
this long, which is too much to bt
practical at present.
On the Pacific Coast there Is ar
1,s00-mile hook up. with 800 miles fol
the longest transmission, for whicF
500 900 volts are required. the highest
powered line now in operation, Mr.
Dillon says. This Pacific system con
meets Vancouver with San Diego anc
Yuma, 900 miles away. and at Seat
Ele is tied in line to Billings, Mont.
Would Span Rockies.
The dream Of the engineer is -
span the Rocky Mountains and bridge
the gap between the Midwest and Pa
cif1c groups Of power plants. rms
would form a coaStto-coaSt super
power link Yesterdays test was de
ecr.bed by Mr.. Dillon as a step towarf
development of the "buss," as 1t Is
known in power circles, for reiaylns
current across the continent.
The Midwest appears to have been
the cradle Of superpower One OF the
biggest tie-up groups includes illinois
Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana
with portions of Minnesota. Iowa. Mis-
souri, and Ohio. A majority OF the
1.726 central stations in this group are
connected by AZ 900 miles Of wire, some
$4,000, 900 persons live In the regions
served and 1900, 900 900 kilowat.
hours Of electricity are furnished tc
5000, 900 homes. factories and farms
Power men gasp when asked to com
pute the miles of distribution wire In
this territory. They estimate that ir
1850. generation for the region will
reach 63,500, 900 900 kilowatt hours
almost as much as for the entire
United States at present.
SuperpOWer which power men claim
is a misnomer. was illustrated in it,
first test on a big scale more than 6
year ago in the South. when indus
tries in the northwestern part OF
North Carolina faced a shutdown be
cause of water famine. The max
imum output of a steam station OF
the Tennessee River was carried or
the wires Of the Alabama Power Co
to the lines of the Georgia Railway
and Power Co, which released ar
equal amount to the Southern Power
Co, replacing power it relayed to the
Carolina Power and Light system al
Raleigh. where it was distributed tc
the affected industries.
In daily use, superpower tends tG
reduce rates by reducing equipment
costs through distribution of the bur
den of peak loads, occurring at diff
ferent hours in different regions, and
reducing the need for expensive
emergency reserves.
Whether all the electric companies
Of the United States will be connected
for the liberal exchange Of power is
an unanswered question. Public util-
ity men are looking into the possibili
ties Of exchanging power with the
steel mills. So great has been the
demand for power that the investing
public has poured $4,000, 100000 into
the development of the Nations power
systems.