It was announced this week that Lake Cethana has been selected as Tasmania’s preferred pumped hydro site. Lake Cethana is in the Cradle Coast, about 60km south of Devonport.
Tasmanians know we have an amazing electricity generation system. Decades ago, while other states were building coal, oil and gas fired thermal power stations, we were building dams. Over the decades, the initial coal, oil and gas resources have been depleted, and global resource prices have fluctuated. Many of those thermal power stations are nearing the end of their operational life. Over the next 20 years, up to 19,000MW of coal fired power stations are expected to be retired, including some of the biggest coal fired power stations in the country. That’s around seven times Tasmania’s total generation capacity.
Lake Cethana Pumped Hydro will take water from the western side of Lake Cethana, through tunnels and an underground power station, to an adjacent upper storage. Early feasibility work has shown that the initial design option of 600MW and 11 hours can be scaled up to 750MW (to take full advantage of the increased sizing of the Marinus Link interconnector) and up to 20 hours’ deep storage duration (to meet expected future market needs). Cethana Dam, built in 1971, is a National Engineering Landmark, recognized for its pioneering construction technique. This dam, and the lake’s surrounding topography and conditions, makes the addition of pumped hydro a smart add-on to this existing infrastructure.
According to the Clean Energy Council’s “Clean Energy at Work”, pumped hydro projects create hundreds of local jobs, particularly during construction. Almost two thirds of jobs are labourers and trades, while other leading occupations include engineers (civil, mechanical, electrical and scada), civil and general labourers, and drivers. More than 80% of construction work and more than 90% of operations and maintenance work is expected to be local.
