Members of the public saw first-hand how clean energy is generated when they went behind the scenes at Cethana Power Station today (Saturday). 

Hydro Tasmania welcomed a capacity crowd of more than 170 places at the Cethana Open Day in northwest Tasmania. 

Attendees were taken on a tour inside the underground station and got a close-up look at the 110m high Cethana Dam wall and massive spillway. 

Cethana has been selected as the site for Tasmania’s first proposed pumped hydro project and attendees heard more about how it would work and what makes Cethana the ideal location. 

The proposed project at Cethana would have a generating capacity of 750MW and provide up to 20 hours of storage.  

Hydro Tasmania’s Executive General Manager of People, Culture and Engagement Ruth Groom said open days are an important opportunity to connect with the community. 

“Open days allow us to take the community behind the scenes and show them how we use water to keep the lights on in Tasmania,” said Groom. 

“It’s also a great chance for the community to learn about the next generation of hydropower with our exciting vision for building pumped hydro at Cethana.” 

Cethana Power Station was commissioned in 1971 and has a generating capacity of 100MW. 

It is one of eight power stations in the run-of-river Mersey-Forth catchment in northwest Tasmania. 

Water flows directly from a river and cascades through eight power stations, using the same water to generate energy multiple times. 

The team from Hydro Tasmania’s education program Generation Hydro were also on site at the open day to provide Hydropower 101 talks and colouring in activities for children.  

Ends. 

Released for Hydro Tasmania by Louisa Wright / 0409 722 359 / media@hydro.com.au