Studies set to probe pumped hydro plans

ORE than 2000 “pumped hydro” sites have been identified across Tasmania as funding for major studies into the technology is expected to be announced today.

New research from the Australian National University found Tasmania has about 2050 pumped hydro sites, which could store enough water for 6000 gigawatt hours of energy, roughly two-thirds of Hydro’s annual generation.

Research Professor Andrew Blakers said there was unlimited potential in Tasmania, but more research was needed to determine if it could be realised.

“The question is: ‘Is the wind power and pumped hydro potential in Victoria cheaper or more expensive than the wind power and pumped hydro in Tasmania when the cost of the interconnector is added’,” he said.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is expected to formally tick off today on $5 million worth of feasibility studies of pumped hydro potential.

Meanwhile, Hydro Tasmania and the State Government are pursuing the Battery of the Nation idea, which they say could result in billions of dollars of investment and thousands of jobs in regional areas.

ANU researchers found a possible 22,000 pumped hydro sites across Australia.

But Prof Blakers said Tasmania’s potential to contribute significantly to the mainland electricity network was “utterly constrained” unless there was a second Bass Strait interconnector, which has an estimated cost of $1.1 billion.

“The problem there is that the cost of the interconnector tilts the tables very strongly against Tasmania,” he said.

But Hydro Tasmania Battery of the Nation program director Chris Gwynne said the viability of a second cable would be determined by pumped hydro and the potential to unlock significant wind investment.

“We can only see the case for more interconnection getting stronger,” he said.

Pumped hydro is a system where water which has already generated electricity is reused by pumping it back uphill to an upper reservoir using cheap wind energy. It is run back downhill through turbines at opportune times to create more energy.

Prof Blakers said Tasmania, including King Island, had better wind power and pumped hydro possibilities than Victoria.

He said 21st century pumped hydro was unlikely to run into the environmental problems of the Gordon below Franklin scheme in the 1980s.

“It will be vastly less, the Gordon below Franklin dam was going to flood 144 square kilometres of land whereas the total land for the entire country under this possibility is 36 square kilometres,” he said.

It is understood that Hydro Tasmania has ruled out any hydro development in world heritage areas.

News of the ANU research coincides with political debate heating up over a clean energy target, the future of the Liddell coal fired power station and the predictions of blackouts in Victoria and South Australia this summer.

Mr Gwynne said the potential sites identified by ANU’s national study would need more work to firm up their potential — including hydrological, environmental and geological studies.

Hydro’s current annual total of 9000 gigawatt hours is enough to power 900,000 homes and small businesses for a year.