Shock to the system as Marlborough celebrates 90 years of electricity

Wednesday, 2 August 2017

The Waihopai Dam in 1927, which will reach its 90th year of supplying the first electricity to Marlborough on Sunday.

The future never looked brighter in 1927, literally.

Ninety years ago the first lights in Marlborough began to shine as the region's electricity was switched on for the first time.

Marlborough Electric Power Board, the predecessor of Marlborough Lines, completed the first section of the provincial hydro-electrical scheme on August 6, 1927.

The project harnessed power from the Waihopai River and erected transmission lines back into Blenheim, Renwick and Seddon for about £275,000.

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Marlborough Lines managing director Ken Forrest. (File photo)

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Marlborough Lines managing director Ken Forrest says it was an ambitious project, but a lasting one with the Waihopai Dam still in use.

Waihopai Dam overflows after heavy rain in the high country.

'It's a testament to its design,' Ken says. 'A number of the transmission towers are still in use today.'

'It really shows the worth of quality construction.'

Construction of the Waihopai Dam began in July 1925 and it took two years to complete the reinforced concrete structure.

The Marlborough Electric Power Board produced an information booklet on the project titled Harnessing the Waihopai in 1927.

The booklet boasts about the modern construction of the hydro-electric installation, which uses no wooden poles in any part of 200 kilometres of transmission and reticulation lines.

'The concrete pole, [a] new departure in construction … Lines practically indestructible,' it reads.

In the 1930s, diesel generators were added to supplement the Waihopai scheme.

While in the 1940s, Marlborough was connected to a national power grid connection, Ken says.

The Waihopai project was a turning point in the region's electrical development, Ken says.

While no official event is planned to commemorate the date, Ken encourages people in the region to think about electricity and its impact on Sunday.

'This is an interesting thing to reflect upon,' he says.

The Marlborough Electric Power Board became Marlborough Electric in 1992, before reform in 1998 forced all electricity companies to split into either the lines business or supply business.

Marlborough Electric's generation and retail businesses were sold to Trustpower.

Marlborough Lines focuses on the operation and maintenance of the province's network, and Ken says the team is proud of how it has expanded.

'Within Marlborough we're really proud of the network and its reliability,' he says.