Hydro feels the heat - Drought pressure on power

Hobart Mercury
Saturday 3/5/2008 Page: 15

DROUGHT will put Hydro Tasmania under even more financial pressure, but blackouts are not expected unless the Basslink cable fails. News that Hydro storages were down to just 18.6 per cent and the state was importing massive amounts of coal-fired power from Victoria were greeted with dismay by the Greens, who said they warned of exactly this scenario. Hydro Tasmania yesterday said the state had recorded the second-worst six-month period of rainfall on record. The worst was last year.

Hydro Tasmania's manager Energy Resources David Marshall said Basslink had been crucial to maintaining supply. "Without Basslink our storages would be significantly lower and there would be a significant risk of some form of power restrictions." he said. "Last month, 291 gigawatt hours were imported across Basslink compared to less than one GWh exported. 106GWh were generated by the Bell Bay gas-fired power station." Tasmanian Greens energy spokesman Kin Booth said the party had warned of exactly this scenario before Basslink was built.

"These latest Basslink export and import figures reveal that the scenario which many, including the Greens had warned, has eventuated, with the cable becoming an expensive diversion from the state developing a clean, sustainable self-sufficiency orientated energy plan for the state," he said. `Basslink was touted as an income winner to export surplus power to high-priced mainland markets, despite warnings that climate change and drought would render the project a high-risk failure that would end up as a high price dirty coal power importer.

"This latest statement from Hydro Tasmania shows that this scenario has eventuated, with the state becoming reliant upon expensive, dirty imported power." Mr Booth said the money spent on Basslink could have been used to provide economically and environmentally sustainable power.

"$92 million dollars per year over time would have put a solar hot water heater in every house in Tasmania as well as solar cells on the roof, that could have fed power back into the grid, but instead Lennon Labor has given us an expensive extension cable carrying dirty coal power," he said. "Premier Lennon was the main advocate for Basslink and it looks like it is doomed to be another gamble that hasn't worked."