Hydro plant goes to waste

Courier Mail
Saturday 9/8/2008 Page: 34

A MULTIMILLION-dollar hydroelectric power station at Somerset Dam has sat idle for six months because of a wrangle over who should run it. SEQWater refused to renew the contract with previous operator, Hydro Power, a company owned by former Snowy Mountains Authority engineer Jim Ryan, who had run the station for 20 years. The station is large enough to power a town of about 1000 homes and has previously been used to light up Kilcoy and an export abattoir.

In the six months since it has been closed about 10,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases have been pumped into the atmosphere because Energex has had to replace its clean hydroelectric power with a conventional generator. SEQWater operations manager Rob Drury said yesterday Mr Ryan's contract was let go because the plant had to be closed for refurbishment. The plant was commissioned in 1954 and operated until 1978 when it was closed by the Brisbane City Council as uneconomic. It was refurbished at Hydro's expense and restarted in 1988.

With its contract drawing to a close, Hydro Power started talks with SEQWater for a new agreement two years ago. Mr Ryan said SEQWater never once put up a constructive proposal to keep the station going, nor offered to buy critical plant or suggested a smooth transition to a new operator. In November last year SEQWater started a Supreme Court action, claiming ownership of all station assets, including items that had been bought by Hydro such as the transformer connecting the station to the grid.

Mr Ryan said a draft settlement was drawn up the night before the hearing in December last year but in mid-January SEQWater reneged. Hydro then removed its transformer and other gear. Mr Drury said SEQWater was yet to decide whether it would run the station itself or advertise for an outside operator. "We've got a heap of safety issues that need addressing as well as upgrading," Mr Drury said.

Mr Ryan said the equipment was in excellent condition and evidence of this was that Energex had asked for an extension of his contract to 2010 but this was ignored by SEQWater. Mr Ryan said that since it closed, SEQWater had contacted Hydro staff to work out how to run the station. Mr Drury said that after refurbishment the station would be online about the end of this year. "We also wanted more control over the situation, particularly in regards to how much water we let out and when," Mr Drury said.