Around 200 people have snapped up free tickets to take a first-hand look at the Tarraleah Power Station in the Central Highlands.

Hydro Tasmania held a public open day at Tarraleah today, giving people a look behind the scenes to see how water from Tasmanian Highlands is generated into clean electricity.

Today’s event follows another open day last weekend at Devils Gate Power Station in the state’s north-west, which attracted around 190 people.

Hydro Tasmania’s Head of Civil Assets, Andrew Hickman, said the annual power station tours are a chance to learn about our history and the engineering skills and innovation behind our stations.

‘Our people take a great deal of pride in what they do and these events give others the chance to see how we harness the power of water,’ Mr Hickman said.

‘Tasmanians are Hydro Tasmania’s most important customers and the very people we were created to serve. Our people thrive on having a strong connection with the community and the power station open days have become a crucial part of that,’ he said.

The Tarraleah scheme was commissioned in the 1930s, making it one of the state’s oldest. With funding support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, Hydro Tasmania is nearing completion of a $5 million feasibility study into how the scheme could be reimagined to deliver more energy, more flexibly in the future.

The feasibility study is looking at two aspects – maintaining existing assets to ensure they continue to operate safely and reliably, and what would be needed to shift the scheme’s capacity to suit the anticipated needs of the future energy market.

Ends.

Released for Hydro Tasmania by Bron Hill / 0409 722 359 / media@hydro.com.au.