Reefton Power Station supplied electricity to the very prosperous gold mining town of

Reefton Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is 44 km south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is 34 km to the north, Maruia is 63 ...

in New Zealand and was the first power station to supply municipal electricity in the Southern Hemisphere.New Zealand Historical Atlas'' – McKinnon, Malcolm (Editor); David Bateman, 1997, Plate 88 It started operation on 4 August 1888. Reefton man George Rich Wylde (1858-1942), son of James Wylde, brought samples of Edison and

Swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...

electric lamps back from a visit to

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

returning on 8 January 1883 and a public meeting was called to consider an electricity generating and distribution enterprise for Reefton. Ross & Glendinning had been lighting one of their Dunedin factories with electricity since 1882. The Reefton Electric Light and Power Company was formed in 1886. The decision to build a power station was taken in the same year, following a demonstration of electric lighting in four Reefton hotels. The demonstration was organised by amateur electrician Walter Prince. The power station turbine was run by water supplied from the Inangahua River via two tunnels and a headrace flume. The Grey Electric Power Board purchased the scheme in 1946. After the town was connected to the national grid in 1949 the power station was decommissioned. Since the Reefton system used 220 volts

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even ...

while the national grid used 230 volts 50 hertz

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...

, a

motor–generator A motor–generator (an M–G set) is a device for converting electrical power to another form. Motor–generator sets are used to convert frequency, voltage, or phase of power. They may also be used to isolate electrical loads from the electr ...

was installed at the power station site to supply customers until rewiring was completed. The power house was demolished in 1961. The Reefton Power Station was recognised by

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

as a Category 2 Historic Place on the 30th August 1990 (List no. 5002). Parts of the original structure remain and are accessible via a walking track, and there are plans for restoration of the site. A Trust was formed in 2012 with the goal of restoring the historic powerplant. Stage 1 of this planned restoration was completed on April 11, 2015. This included new signage, riverbank preservation and walking track restoration. In September 2020 a new 4 tonne turbine costing $800,000 was delivered as part of a $5M restoration project. File:TWC Reefton • Stewart Nimmo • MRD 22.jpg File:TWC Reefton • Stewart Nimmo • MRD 24.jpg File:TWC Reefton • Stewart Nimmo • MRD 26.jpg

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