Suitable locations for long duration pumped hydro are very rare globally. Fortunately this isn’t the case on the Cradle Coast. In March 2019, Hydro Tasmania announced three preferred locations for adding pumped hydro to existing hydro assets: Lake Cethana in the Mersey-Forth with a capacity of 600MW and a storage duration of 11 hours, Lake Rowallan in the Mersey-Forth with a capacity of 600MW and a storage duration of 24 hours, and Tribute on the West Coast with a capacity of 500MW and a storage duration of 31 hours. All three of these projects dwarf most wind, solar or battery projects anywhere in Australia in capacity, capacity factor and duration.
Hopefully all three projects will eventually be constructed, but for now, Hydro Tasmania are undertaking community engagement, geotechnical investigations and environmental, heritage and social assessments to decide which of these three projects will be constructed first.
You can find out more the preferred pumped hydro sites here
Image: Hydro Tasmania
