Through our Energy Supply Plan the Government is doing everything necessary to maintain energy security.
Total energy in storage is currently at 13.6 per cent, the same level as this time last week. This is due to additional generation coming online, significant wind generation and increasing inflows into storages.
Key storages, including Lake Gordon and Lake Burbury, have risen slightly since last week and many other storages remain steady.
This is a clear sign that our Energy Supply Plan is working.
Over 100MW of diesel generation has already been installed and is progressively coming online. Work continues on installing an additional 100MW of generation during April. This week Hydro Tasmania will begin installing three dual fuel diesel/gas units with a combined output of 75MW at Bell Bay. It’s expected that the dual fuel units will be fully installed by the end of April and operational in May.
Hydro Tasmania has reached an agreement with Norske Skog that will help Tasmania manage the current unprecedented low water storage situation, due to low inflows and the current Basslink outage.
In March, Norske Skog voluntarily reduced load at its Boyer Mill for one week. In an extension of this agreement, Norske Skog last week voluntarily reduced load at its Boyer Mill. This reduction was timed to coincide with a planned maintenance outage and involved a reduction of 85 MW/h over the additional four days of downtime. These arrangements are temporary and have had no effect on the Boyer workforce.
Over the weekend, the Premier met with the owners of Basslink who assured the Premier that the repair of the Basslink interconnector is a matter of priority and that they will endeavour to complete the repair as soon as possible.
Hydro Tasmania and the Government will continue to provide regular updates on the Energy Supply Plan as the situation evolves. Tasmanians can be assured we will do everything necessary to maintain energy security.