Under the Hodgman majority Liberal Government, Tasmania has the lowest emissions in the country and is well on track to achieve our 2022 target of 100 percent renewable energy production, while delivering the country’s lowest regulated electricity prices.
We have nation-building pumped hydro projects being progressed to deliver clean, reliable and low-cost energy to Tasmania and mainland states.
Today I joined Hydro Tasmania’s Chief Operations Officer Jesse Clark to inspect a major upgrade of Repulse Power Station in the Derwent Scheme.
The upgrade replaces the turbine’s oil hub with a water filled hub to eliminate the risk of oil spills and will increase the systems reliability and flexibility, making it better suited to manage increased renewable energy generation as part of this government’s Battery of the Nation initiative.
This project is one of a number of scheduled dam upgrades and improvements to Hydro Tasmania’s Derwent system, which will increase electricity generation by more than 80 gigawatt hours (GWh) each year by 2021, supporting plans to make Tasmania the renewable Battery of the Nation.
Hydro Tasmania has invested around $105 million in maintenance and upgrades to power generation assets over the last 12 months, including the Repulse project.
These upgrades will help make Hydro Tasmania’s network more efficient and reliable, meaning we can generate more power with the existing hydropower assets.
The Hodgman majority Liberal Government’s Battery of the Nation and second Bass Straight interconnector initiatives, will unlock multiple large scale renewable energy projects, inject up to $5 billion into the Tasmanian economy, create thousands of local jobs, put downward pressure on power prices and provide our state with a reliable long-term revenue source.