British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 534

CHAPTER XIII.

172. The present total effective capacity of the three main generating stations is 72,000 KW., and the steam turbine and boiler plants at the Haifa and "Reading" Power Stations are now being enlarged by a further 42,000 KW. Each of the main generating stations is interconnected with the other two by 66,000 volt double-circuit transmission lines. The output of the generating stations in 1945 was a little over 250,000,000 KWH.

173. The transmission and distribution systems comprise at present 1,382 kilometres of high voltage and 1,260 kilometres of low voltage overhead lines and underground cables, and there are 944 transformer substations, having a total capacity of 94,700 KVA, for stepping down from the high transmission voltages to low voltage for domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural use.

174. It is worthy of note that much of the development of Palestine in recent years, particularly in the fields of industry and agriculture, has been made a practical possibility by the activities of this Company.

JERUSALEM ELECTRIC & PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATION LTD.

175. This Company was founded in 1928 to take over the Concession originally granted in 1914 by the Turkish Government to Euripides Mavromatis for the generation and distribution of electricity within a radius of 20 kilometres of the city of Jerusalem.

176. The power station, situated near the Jerusalem railway station, was originally equipped with three diesel-engine driven generating sets of 27 5 KW each, and has since been extended from time to time. It now houses four sets of 275 KW, three sets of 490 KW, and two sets of 2000 KW each; a third 2000 KW set is now being erected and a fourth is on order, the output of the power station in 1945 was 20,111,269 KWH.

177. Electricity is generated at 6,600 volts, three phase, 50 cycles per second, and is transmitted at this pressure to' substations throughout the city and as far afield as Bethlehem and Beit Jala in the south, Ramallah in the north, and Kiriat Anavim in the west. The main transmission system is in the form of a ring around the city so arranged that current can be supplied from either direction to the substations and high voltage branch lines connected to it, At the substations, which have a total capacity of 8955 KV A, the pressure is stepped down to 380 volts, three phase, and '120 volts, single phase, fed into the low voltage network of overhead lines and underground cables and distributed to consumers for domestic, commercial and industrial use.

Page 534