Evening star., 1950-11-12
British Plants
Low on Volts
U. S. Power System
Subject Of Study
By Cyril Dunn

level?
If it does, British industry
would have to be given an addi-
tional amount of electrical en-
ergy as great as that now being
used by the whole country. The
extra plant needed would have
to give 650,000 kilowatts year
over and above the amount re-
quired to cope with the present
annual growth of the load. At
this rate of expansion, British
industry would reach by 1860
the position American industry
is in now.
This is the conclusion reached
by a team from the British elec-
tricity supply industry sent over
to the States. under the auspices
of the Anglo-American Council
on Productivity. to study Amer
lean methods. The teams re-
port is the first in the long Sc
ries of industrial reports already
published by the council to come
from a nationalized industry.
Look for Ideas
The rate of expansion fore
seen by the team is not, in fact,
as startling as it may seem to
be. The British Electricity Au-
thority already aims at lifting
the present annual rate to
is million kilowatts by 1854.
And by 1857 they hope to have
it up to 18 million kilowatts.
The report says it was "the
general opinion of Americans"
that for full and rapid economic
recovery in Britain, the provi-
sion of more electricity generat-
ing capacity was "a fundamental
requirement" The Americans
thought we should give it pri-
ority over any others.
The team decided that, in an
industry such as theirs, high
productivity meant giving the
best service to the most people
at the lowest cost. Combing the
States for ideas on how to i'm
prove productivity within this
definition, the team found COM
paratively few large and out
standing things, but rather an
aggregation of many small
items r
But it is clear that what i'm
pressed the visitors most deeply
was the ease and the speed with
which America can expand and
develop it's resources of electri-
cal power. The Americans, when
they set out to provide more
power stations and to widen
their net of transmission lines,
come up against none of the
troublesome" and "exasperat-
ing" delays which, the report
says, hamper expansion in this
country.
In its conclusions (unlike
other productivity teams which
have already reported, this ma
tionalized" team submits no
recommendations. the team
writes: '.t
In the face OF our present
urgent need for more and more
stations, it is doubtful whether
delays such as occur in this
country can be justified. Ameri-
can methods point the way to a
severe streamlining of our COM
plex procedure"
. The Americans can get a new
power station going in little
more than half the time 1t takes
here. In Britain. when a site
has been chosen as technically
desirable, two years or more
may pass before the authority
can get permission to locate a
station there.
u. S. Moves Faster
In America, overhead mains
are general, except in the city
centers. Rights of way are
easily obtained and nobody
minds using the same pole for
power lines and communication
lines. Here. constant objections
are raised to overhead con-
struction. Lines have often to
be rerouted, disregarding cost,
because of local objections.
But even when the way is
cleared for a new station and it's
power network, the British sup
pliers are held up by delays in
the delivery and erection of
plant. In the States it takes "a
months to deliver and erect a
boiler; here 1t takes 48 months
or more.
And what Is behind all these
reasons why the American elec-
Iricity industry gets better serv-
ice? In the opinion of this team,
it is "the keen competitive
spirit" among American manu-
facturers. compared with the
almost complete lack Of COM
petition between plant manu-
facturers in Britain.
Because Britain is obliged by
her acute shortage to go on
using some old and inefficient
generating units, she cannot yet
compete with the Americans on
the finer points of operating
policy, says the team.
In America the electricity in
dustry workers are "noticeably
keen" for the success of their
undertaking and have a highly
developed sense of service to
the community. On the main
tenance side the team found
workers willing to do many Of
the routine jobs on the power
transmission network with the
lines "live," where in Britain
the lines are often made dead
for considerable periods. :.
The Americans seem to have
taken q particular interest in