Electric Lighting in the Isle of Man

Abstract

IN 1928 a commission was appointed to inquire into the best methods of supplying the Isle of Man with electric light and power. This resulted in the appointment of an Electricity Board in 1932 to carry out a scheme of supply which is not unlike that adopted in the English ‘grid’. The scheme covers the whole of the island except 17 square miles supplied by the Douglas Corporation. It consists broadly of an overhead ring main at 33 kilovolts from which tappings can be taken for the consumers. According to the Electrical Times for August 10, the first part of the line was inaugurated on August 3. Considering that the first pole of the line was erected on April 18, this shows how expert electricians have become in overhead construction. There are now approximately seventy miles of steelcored aluminium conductors erected. The supply is taken from the Douglas Corporation works, the supply being stepped up from 3,300 to 33,000 volts at a substation before it comes to the high tension ring main. The overhead lines are carried on creosoted fir poles, but H poles are used in special positions. Although the lines operate at 33 kilovolts, they satisfy the British Standard Specification for 66 kilovolts. The low-tension substations connected with the ring main supply consumers at 400 volts for power and 230 volts for lighting. The normal span adopted between poles is 400 feet but in a few cases it was necessary to resort to much longer spans on account of the contour of the ground and way leave difficulties. The longest span of 1,013 ft. is at the well-known Laxey Glen. The supports on each side of this span are three poles, each pole carrying one of the three phase conductors.