Driest year on record lowers dam capacity to just 17pc: Hydro drained by drought

Burnie Advocate
Wednesday 5/12/2007 Page: 6

Hydro Tasmania buckled under the weight of Tasmania's driest year on record in 2006-07, it admitted to a parliamentary committee yesterday. The drought lowered Hydro's dams to only 17 per cent capacity, meaning the company had to spend an extra $100 million on power from Basslink and Bell Bay's gas station to keep up with Tasmania's electricity demands. The company is also more than $1 billion in debt.

Hydro chairman David Crean said the company only produced 6600 gigawatt hours - significantly below the State's 10,000 gigawatt demand. Hydro would not return dividends to the Government in the 2007-08 year, but Mr Crean said Tasmanians could still be optimistic about the company's future. He said with a new Labor Federal Government promising an increase in Mandatory Renewable Energy Targets, the Roaring 40s wind farm developments could soon prove to be lucrative with assets potentially worth $400 million.

Hydro owns nine wind farms in Australia, India and China, with Woolnorth host to the biggest in the southern hemisphere. Mr Crean said based on rainfall predictions, Hydro's operating cash would increase from $37.4 million last year to $150 million in 2012. He said scientific advice suggested Tasmania would receive the same amount of rainfall in the next 30 years, but it could be erratic in its distribution, which wouldn't be ideal for Hydro.

Primary Industries and Water Minister David Llewellyn said with the predicted impacts of climate change, Hydro needed to be aware of other renewable energy producing ventures. Hydro assured the committee that despite its financial difficulties, machinery had been maintained to standard.