| Refurbishment
Navigating major life changes Over my career, I’ve been fascinated to watch the
rapid uptake of wind and solar power and the rising demand for long-duration energy storage. It’s an exciting time for the hydropower sector as market dynamics shift and create new opportunities for hydropower asset owners – such as reassessing their asset portfolio and operating regimes to provide fast-response ‘peaking’ when wind and solar are inadequate to meet energy demand. Right now, Entura is supporting Hydro Tasmania as it embarks on increasing the flexibility and capacity of the Tarraleah Power Station, one of Tasmania’s oldest. A feasibility study demonstrated that redeveloping Tarraleah could deliver more renewable energy, more capacity and more flexibility to support Tasmania’s future energy vision. The redevelopment will double the station’s capacity and a new pressurised water conveyance system will transform the scheme’s current baseload and inflexible operation into flexible, instantaneous dispatchability with full access to the energy in storage in Lake King William (formed by the Clark Dam, a 67m-high, gravity-arch dam, constructed in 1965). In the last few years, I’ve also been delighted
to witness the reemergence of pumped hydro in Australia. It’s another ‘new life’ opportunity for existing dams – which, when the topography is right, may form one of the paired reservoirs. We’ve explored the feasibility of this opportunity for Tasmania, ultimately identifying a preferred scheme incorporating the existing Lake Cethana (created by a 110m-high concrete-faced rockfill dam constructed in 1971).
Expert care
If a dam is well designed and maintained so that it can remain structurally safe, it can usually continue to operate long beyond an 80–100-year design life, remaining resilient in the face of nature’s challenges, such as floods and earthquakes, and the inevitable processes of aging. At Entura and Hydro Tasmania, we feel an enormous sense of responsibility and pride when we work on Hydro Tasmania’s dams, which were built over more than a century and have been fundamental to shaping our state’s economy and delivering the lifestyles our communities now enjoy. Under the expert care and custodianship of experienced dam engineers – examining, diagnosing and treating these dams throughout their long lives – we can maximise the value of these important assets so that future generations will continue to enjoy all the benefits they can offer, whatever their age.
Tarraleah Upgrades – construction of new intake at Lake King William for the redeveloped hydropower scheme
Clockwise from top left:
Catagunya Dam – strengthening the cantilevered ogee crest with carbon fibre prior to drilling large anchors
Cethana Dam – spillway chute upgrades to increase flood capacity of this concrete-faced rockfill dam
Gordon Dam – 140m-high arch dam, Hydro Tasmania’s highest dam
Mossy Marsh Dam – upgrades to spillway and embankment
Paloona Dam – spillway chute wall raising to increase spillway capacity
Paloona Dam – dam crest and chute wall raise to increase overall flood capacity
www.waterpowermagazine.com | April 2025 | 29
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