Arabic version: حريق تونغاتيناه يثير تساؤلات حول شبكة الكهرباء في تسمانيا

According to ABC News, an overnight fire has left Tasmania’s Tungatinah Power Station non-operational, prompting questions over the effect on the state’s electricity system. Emergency services were called to the Central Highlands site about 9pm on Wednesday and brought the blaze under control after several hours, but the building is now just a shell.

Tungatinah contributes about 5 per cent of Tasmania’s energy and has capacity of 142.5 megawatts, making it the state’s fifth-largest hydro power station. Hydro Tasmania and network operator TasNetworks said the network remained secure. TasNetworks acting chief executive Renee Anderson said the transmission network was “designed to withstand an incident like this”. Supply to about 300 customers in the area has been affected, while Tasmania’s major industrial customers have not been affected.

Lower current demand follows the closure of the Liberty Bell Bay manganese smelter and reduced capacity at the Nyrstar zinc smelter. Tasmania can also use the 250MW Basslink cable to import power. Hydro Tasmania is considering contingency plans including the 342MW gas generator at Tamar Valley Power Station, expected to return by the end of the week. Chief executive Rachel Watson said the state had sufficient generation capacity available even before that unit returns.

The outage could have implications beyond Tungatinah because the station is part of the Derwent hydro scheme. Water flows from Lake Echo through the Nive River into Tungatinah before combining with Tarraleah outflows in Lake Liapootah. Goanna Energy analyst Marc White said it was hoped valves enabling water to bypass Tungatinah had not been damaged, and he considered it unlikely the fire would affect the whole Derwent system.

Hydro Tasmania has not provided a rebuilding cost or timetable while the investigation is early, though repairs could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The station is fully insured, Watson said, while Premier Jeremy Rockliff said rebuilding would take “at least a year, certainly many months”. Independent economist Saul Eslake said reduced generation was likely to lower Hydro Tasmania’s revenue and profits, potentially reducing payments to the state budget.