Hydro Shutdown from 1st August 2026 until 31st October 2026.
Dear Irrigator
Michael Hine (Secretariat) and I met with Hydro Tasmania late last week in regard to the need for Hydro to shut down Poatina for 9 months in order to fully re-line the penstock pipe. This is considered a once in a 20 year task.
In order to facilitate this, an additional shutdown will be required this Winter/Spring for 3 months as well as the already announced 6 month shutdown in 2027 – as everyone agrees that a 9 month straight shutdown is not practical.
Of course, we can only be guided by Hydro as to the urgency and nature of the repairs, however as a catastrophic event to the penstock pipe would remove all water access, this is not a scenario that any of us could entertain and hence we need to support the proposed works.
The most likely period of shut down for the 2026 shutdown is 1 August until 31 October 2026. We have been assured that under all scenarios; the Scheme will become operational again at the very latest by 1 November 2026. When we questioned Hydro as to the timing, they indicated that it was unlikely that works could commence earlier due to the demand curve for electricity and the likely need to run Poatina throughout July for operational reasons as the Gordon facility is currently also under repair. Hydro was also adamant that the works need to commence this year as they already believe that the risk of a failure without the re-lining is considerable and therefore it would be unwise to push this element of the work until 2028. For the avoidance of doubt, this is an additional shutdown and does not impact on the shutdown from April 2027 until September 2027.
Clearly there are a lot of stakeholders involved and as with all such processes, circumstances could change. For the record, whilst clearly we have little choice in co-operating with Hydro given the consequences of failure and their expertise in this space, we have expressed our concerns as to the timing and short notice and urged them to ensure that all alternatives are fully examined. We also understand that Tasmanian Irrigation are prosecuting the case of delaying the shutdown given the impact on irrigators and in particular the newly commissioned Northen Midlands Scheme.
Notwithstanding this, your Board believes that it would be prudent for us to be prepared for the additional shutdown. Our current thinking as to the best way to mitigate the impact of this would be
for us to:
Advise irrigators as soon practical such that appropriate farm and crop planning can take this into consideration (where possible) – hence this communique.
We will seek to maximise water flows for the months leading up to the shutdown (rain events aside). This should enable as much water into Scheme storage as possible ahead of the shutdown. We will be seeking volume and price concessions for such water given the trade-offs that irrigators will be making in terms of the forgoing of either natural fill or evaporation.
In these extraordinary circumstances where an irrigator does not have a sufficient winter water right, they will still be able to take water in the lead up period provided that it goes into storage. This will be charged as winter water (hopefully reduced) + the winter right fee.
Conversely, if a winter water right holder advises that they wish to take either no or a reduced amount of winter water this year, their winter water right fee will be reduced to the water agreed to be supplied.
We will enable the Scheme to be used as a conduit for the supply of water by one irrigator to another to facilitate supply of water during October from storages at no charge.
We will of course keep all Irrigators updated as we become aware of developments.
If Irrigators have any other suggestions as to how to manage this situation, please let myself, Michael Hine or one of the Board members know. Similarly, if this announcement is likely to cause you significant hardship then please again advise us so we can factor this into the representations being made to Hydro.
Any questions, please contact either myself or Michael Hine.
Yours faithfully
Lauchlan Cole
Chairman