BASSLINK BREAKS

BASSLINK has broken for the second time in three years.

The power and communications cable between Tasmania and Victoria has been damaged during maintenance and will be offline until at least April 14 as equipment is brought in from overseas.

A Basslink spokesman said the electricity interconnector was offline but the broadband and internet cable was still operating.

The State Government is seeking $122 million in damages from Basslink after a broken cable set off an energy crisis during the summer and autumn of 2015-16.

THE Basslink undersea cable between Tasmania and Victoria has gone offline for the second time in three years, with the company confirming damage caused during routine maintenance has prompted significant repairs.

A Basslink spokesman said the electricity interconnector, which sends power between the two states, was damaged by a contractor during maintenance that began on Saturday.

It is the second time in three years the cable has had an outage and it is not expected to come back online until at least April 14.

“Regrettably, during the routine maintenance at a transition station in Victoria, a third-party contractor dam- aged a piece of equipment,” the spokesman said.

“Given the damaged equipment is unique, it will require appropriate expertise and equipment from overseas for repair before the interconnector can recommence operations.”

The spokesman said the fault had only affected the electricity interconnector.

“The Basslink telecoms cable providing broadband services to internet service providers continues to operate.”

The spokesman said the incident was not related to the December 2015 to June 2016 outage that contributed to Tasmania’s energy crisis during the period, when Hydro Tasmania’s water storage levels were at record lows.

A Hydro Tasmania spokesman said Tasmania’s energy supply was not meaningfully affected by the outage, with water storages at 36.9 per cent.

“That’s an extremely secure level for early autumn, as we approach the wettest months of the year,” he said.

“We expect to manage quite comfortably without being able to import energy until mid-April.”

The new outage comes at the worst possible time for Basslink, which is facing legal action from the State Government over the 2015-16 breakdown. The Government is seeking $122 million in damages over the power cable outage.

Government lawyers have formally lodged a notice of dispute with Basslink Pty Ltd. The notice of dispute detailed expenses in mitigation of losses incurred as a result of the out- age. The matter will now progress through a dispute resolution process, which may lead to arbitration.

The case for a second $1 billion electricity interconnector between Tasmania and Victoria was this week listed by Infrastructure Tasmania as one of five proposals seen as nationally significant for the state.

Energy Minister Guy Barnett labelled the cable project’s listing as a win for the Government’s Tasmania First energy plan, where the state would run on 100 per cent renewable energy by 2022.

Excess energy would be sold to the mainland and the profits returned to Tasmanians through lower power prices.

A business case for the second cable is due to be completed later this year.