We are investigating projects that will maximise Tasmania's hydropower capacity and add pumped hydro. More interconnection will unlock Tasmania’s full renewable energy potential to help meet Tasmania’s growing demand for energy and capitalise on the opportunities presented by a changing energy market.
More interconnection will unlock Tasmania’s renewable energy opportunities, which will deliver benefits to the state including locking in our island’s energy security, giving Tasmanians the lowest possible power prices and delivering much needed jobs and economic investment to regional parts of the state.
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We are advancing work on:
Much of this work was supported by funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
We've looked at the opportunity to develop pumped hydro in Tasmania, to significantly boost the state’s hydropower capacity. Opportunities at Lake Cethana and Lake Rowallan in Tasmania’s North West and near Tribute Power Station on the West Coast were assessed on a range of technical, environmental, social and economic factors as part of our pumped hydro feasibility study. Lake 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 project has its own website! Head here for more info. Learn more >
The 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 about 350 people.
The Cethana project will require a range of approvals at Commonwealth, state and local government level. This process started in early August 2023, with lodgement of a referral to the Commonwealth Government under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The referral was opened for public comment in late 2023 and is now back with Government for further assessment.
Communities will have the opportunity to comment as we progress and will be consulted on the various studies that will inform state and local government approvals processes.
Visit our project page for more details. Learn more >
Much of Australia’s power currently comes from coal-fired power stations that are likely to close in the next few decades. Wind and solar are becoming the dominant sources of new energy but they are variable. That simply means the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. Energy storage will be crucial in the future, to help fill the gaps when wind and solar aren’t available and ensure power is available when consumers need it. Australia's energy market will need a portfolio of varying storage technologies to manage grid reliability, stability and affordability as the market transitions over the coming decades. Market modelling points to a growing need for deep storages in the future energy system, driven by increasing penetration of variable renewable energy sources like wind and solar. This includes our own modelling and analysis from AEMO, TasNetworks and the International Energy Agency. Deep storage (12+ hours) can provide cost-competitive, reliable back-up to efficiently support Australia’s energy transformation as wind and solar become more prevalent. It is more resilient to future market uncertainty, being able to supply energy for days at a time if needed, to ensure the stable and reliable electricity that customers expect.
No. We have excluded environmentally sensitive areas including the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) and National Parks from our pumped hydro energy storage studies. There will be no pumped hydro sites developed in the TWWHA.
No, we are not investigating new on-river dams as part of any potential pumped hydro project.
Lake Cethana uses the existing lake as the lower storage and a new off river upper storage would be constructed.
By its nature, pumped hydro does not rely on environmental flows or deplete water that is used for other purposes such as irrigation. This is because pumped hydro recycles water between an upper and a lower storage.
Our potential project would use the existing storage as the lower storage, which has irrigation and other water usage further downstream.
Water impact modelling shows that the pumped hydro operation will have negligible impact on the storages downstream and the water available downstream for irrigation and other purposes.
Potential aquatic environmental impacts will continue to be a key consideration in any pumped hydro development.
The current natural inflows are not stopped by the proposed pumped hydro project and would continue to be available to downstream users.
Our focus is currently on the Tarraleah hydropower scheme, looking at the role the station and scheme could play in a future energy supply system that is very different to what we have now.
With the support of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), we assessed options for reimagining the Tarraleah scheme in the Central Highlands to deliver more renewable energy, more flexibly in the future. This study demonstrated the technical feasibility of redevelopment.
In April 2022, the Federal Government announced a funding commitment of up to $65M to support Hydro Tasmania in progressing works on Tarraleah. Together with investment from Hydro Tasmania, work is progressing on assessing the commercial viability of redeveloping the scheme and a staged program of upgrade works that provide flexibility for the scheme's future. A program of upgrades are now underway associated with a future new single water conveyance, staged over the next couple of years. The main activities are preparations for construction of a new intake at Lake King William, dam safety improvements at Mossy Marsh Dam and provision of a new emergency spillway location (now complete and the site reopened). There is a new Tarraleah project site - https://connect.hydro.com.au/reimagining-tarraleah - where you can find out more about the project and upgrade works, ask questions and subscribe to updates as the project progresses. Locals and interested parties will have the chance to have a say on Tarraleah's future as we progress the environmental approval processes for the redevelopment.
Australia’s energy market is changing rapidly. Our modelling and analysis has focused on better understanding what the future could look like and the role Tasmania could play.
We’ve shown that Tasmania can make a significant contribution to the NEM’s transformation over the next two decades, and our major projects represent cost-competitive options for supporting Australia’s future energy needs.
Our white papers, jointly funded with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), take a close look at future modelling and design of the energy market, unlocking investment in much-needed storage and how deep storage is the optimal, least-cost choice to manage future uncertainty during this transition.
You can access the white papers here.
Deep storage and its role in a future energy market: As Australia’s transition to a greater penetration of renewables ramps up, our analysis examines the role of storage in supporting a reliable, resilient future energy market. It shows that Tasmania’s clean energy stacks up as very cost competitive, further validating the case for an expansion of Tasmania’s hydropower system. Download the report here.
Working together to achieve a clean energy future: Our analysis shows significant potential for Tasmania and Victoria to work together to achieve an affordable, reliable clean energy future. Download the report here. Benefits of more interconnection: Analysis released by Hydro Tasmania demonstrates that additional Bass Strait interconnection would immediately unlock many hundreds of megawatts of spare seasonable capacity in the Tasmanian hydropower system, and make it available to a transforming market. Download the report here.
We welcome views from the Tasmanian community and will continue to keep you informed as studies progress. We welcome your suggestions on the best way to provide project updates or for you to contact us with questions you may have. There is a new Tarraleah project site - https://connect.hydro.com.au/reimagining-tarraleah - where you can find out more about the project and upgrade works, ask questions and subscribe to updates as the project progresses. You can visit our new project webpage at https://connect.hydro.com.au/cethana-pumpedhydro for information on what is planned at Lake Cethana for pumped hydro in the future.
Marinus Link is a proposed 1500 megawatt capacity undersea electricity connection (called an interconnector) to link Tasmania and Victoria, as part of Australia’s future electricity grid. It is how we will deliver even more clean and reliable energy to the national market.
Australia's Energy Market Operator (AEMO) identified that Marinus Link should be delivered urgently in its Integrated System Plan, the blueprint for what Australia's electricity market needs over the next 30 years.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has a purpose to improve the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies and increase the supply of renewable energy through innovation that benefits Australian consumers and businesses.
Since 2012, ARENA has supported 566 projects with $1.63 billion in grant funding, unlocking a total investment of almost $6.69 billion in Australia’s renewable energy industry.
ARENA has approved $2.5 million in funding for our studies under its Advancing Renewables Program.
ARENA has also provided $2.5 million, matched by Hydro Tasmania, for a feasibility assessment into reimagining the Tarraleah hydropower scheme.
The National Electricity Market (NEM) operates on one of the world’s longest interconnected power systems, stretching from Port Douglas in Queensland to Port Lincoln in South Australia and across the Bass Strait to Tasmania – a distance of around 5000 kilometres. The NEM supplies around 9 million customers. It supplies about 200 terawatt hours of electricity to businesses and households each year.
The NEM’s transmission network carries power from electricity generators to large industrial energy users and local electricity distributors across five states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania), which deliver it to homes and businesses. These assets are owned and operated by state governments, or private businesses.
The illustration below, produced by AEMO, shows how the transport of electricity works from generator to consumer.
Find out more in the National Electricity Market Fact Sheet which has been produced by AEMO. You can also find out more about the NEM by visiting AEMO's website.
National Electricity Market Fact Sheet