Cethana pumped hydro project
Hydro Tasmania has been investigating pumped hydro opportunities around the state, as part of our vision to expand our hydropower capacity. Following an extensive options assessment, and previous community engagement, Lake Cethana in the Mersey-Forth scheme was identified as our preferred pumped hydro site. Pumped hydro will be an important part of the future electricity market because it can fill gaps in supply from wind and solar, which don’t generate all the time.
Cethana Open Day wrap-up
A little rain did nothing to deter the enthusiasm of more than 160 locals who joined us at Cethana Power Station for our open day on Saturday 23 November. Thanks to everyone who visited on the day and for your curiosity and questions about the Cethana pumped hydro project. Our team greatly enjoyed the day, chatting about the role of Cethana today and what the future might look like with a proposed 750MW pumped hydro project. Pictured are Bronwyn, Stewart and Gina. Thanks also to Kentish Lions for keeping the crowds well fed! If you want to be the first to know about future open days, sign up to The Spill here(External link) (Hydro Tasmania’s quarterly e-news). To keep up to date with the Cethana project, you can subscribe here for future updates. |
Project update - community survey feedback
Thanks to everyone who completed our community survey on the Cethana pumped hydro. The survey was designed to find out more about how locals are feeling about the project and its positive and negative effects including impacts on road safety, recreation and tourism, residential amenity and accommodation, as well as opportunities for local employment and economic development.
We received more than 100 responses and lots of comments that will help guide our planning and next steps!
When considering potential negative project effects concerns raised included:
- Potential impacts on housing availability and affordability in and around Sheffield
- Potential impacts on local health care resources
- Concerns regarding potential impacts on plants and animals and overall biodiversity of the local area
- Potential increase in traffic on the local and regional roads and concerns regarding road safety
- Rural and residential amenity impacts from traffic and construction activities
- Concerns that the project may limit public access to natural areas
When considering potential positive effects or opportunities of the project the following themes stood out:
- Job creation
- Economic opportunities for local and regional businesses
- Potential increase in population of local communities such as Sheffield
- Broader economic benefits for Tasmania
Your feedback will help inform our social impact assessment. Our team will be back out to talk with the community in the new year, focused on what our studies have found in traffic, visual amenity, noise and air quality, and social impacts.
You’re welcome to get in touch in the meantime if you have questions.
What is the Cethana project?
From our investigations, we identified three top opportunities in the state for pumped hydro. These opportunities were at Lake Cethana and Lake Rowallan in the North-West and near Tribute Power Station on the West Coast. Between 2019 and 2020, detailed information was gathered and we assessed the suitability of each site for development based on a range of technical, environmental, social and economic factors. Engagement with the community was an important part of this process.
Cethana was selected as our preferred site because of its deep storage capacity, cost-effectiveness and higher technical certainty, environmental and social sustainability and flexibility in sizing and capacity.
The Cethana project would utilise the existing Lake Cethana as the lower storage. A new upper storage would be constructed to the west of the existing lake. An underground power station would be constructed between the two storages and underground tunnels would link them together.
There would be a new transmission line connection from the power station switchyard to TasNetworks’ proposed new Staverton Substation, primarily located within the existing transmission line corridor.
The project would have a generating capacity of 750 MW and a storage capacity of 20 hours. The construction phase would extend for approximately six years with a construction workforce of approximately 300 people.
We are currently investigating options for housing the construction workforce. This is likely to include a mix of purpose-built workforce accommodation village and other accommodation types. We will be engaging further with the community and key stakeholders in relation to workforce accommodation arrangements.
The map below details the proposed project layout and where major infrastructure would be built.
If you'd like to make the diagrams larger, right click and select 'open in a new tab".
About pumped hydro
Australia’s electricity market is relying more and more on wind and solar generation. This brings a growing need for energy in storage to cover those times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow (or both together!).
Pumped hydro will help keep energy supply reliable for consumers by generating electricity on-demand to fill in the gaps.
Pumped hydro schemes have two water storages – one at high elevation (upper storage) and one at low elevation (lower storage).
Here’s how it works:
- When the demand for electricity is low, or when renewable sources are abundant (and prices are low), water is pumped to the upper storage. It is then stored.
- When the demand for electricity is high, or when renewable sources are scarce (and prices are high), the water in the upper storage is used to generate electricity. Water in the upper storage is released downhill, through the power station turbines, generating electricity at the flick of a switch.
You can also check out our short video which explains it all!
https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbh_fhwjzNs(External link)
Project approvals process
The Cethana project will require a range of approvals at Commonwealth, state and local government level.
We have now lodged a referral to the Commonwealth Government under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
The EPBC Act focuses on protecting matters of national environmental significance (called MNES).
Through our studies, we have identified the flora and fauna that may be impacted by the development and proposed mitigation measures to remove or reduce that impact.
This information is provided to the Commonwealth through our referral, allowing the Environment Minister to make a decision on whether project approval is needed and what controls need to be in place (if any).
This is part of our work to reach a Final Investment Decision, which is a commercial assessment of the project’s viability.
Talking with the community
It’s important for us to continue to understand the views of the community and any concerns or issues you have about what is proposed.
We also want to know about and make the most of the opportunities that exist from the project for the local community.
As we progress a range of specialist technical studies to understand potential project impacts and opportunities, we will be seeking community input to these studies.
In the meantime, we are always happy to discuss the project so please get in touch.
What's next
Specialist studies
We’re looking into a range of technical areas to better understand the potential project impacts and opportunities, and as part of the regulatory approvals process. These studies include:
- Noise and vibration
- Traffic and transport
- Visual amenity
- Social and economic, including workforce accommodation
We will be seeking community input to these studies and the findings of these studies will be shared with communities as we progress.
We are here to listen. Post your questions below!
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