Tamar Valley Power Station
| Company type | Power station |
|---|---|
| Industry | Energy |
| Headquarters | Bell Bay, Tasmania , Australia |
| Products | Electricity |
| Owner | Hydro Tasmania |
| Parent | Hydro Tasmania |
Tamar Valley Power Station is a natural gas-fueled facility valued at $230 million, situated in Bell Bay within Tasmania's Tamar Valley. This power station, owned by Hydro Tasmania, is positioned next to the now-retired Bell Bay Power Station, which is also under Hydro Tasmania's ownership.
The plant has a total installed capacity of 388 MW, made up of four peaking units with a combined output of 178 MW and one base-load combined cycle unit rated at 210 MW. The peaking units consist of three 40 MW Pratt & Whitney FT8 Twin Pac gas turbines (Units 101-103), originally from the decommissioned Bell Bay Power Station, plus a 58 MW Rolls-Royce Trent 60WLE turbine (Unit 104) that entered service in May 2009. The base-load unit (Unit 201) is a Mitsubishi M701DA gas turbine with a 210 MW capacity operating in combined cycle mode, commissioned in September 2009. This unit produces 140 MW from the gas turbine itself and an additional 70 MW through a steam turbine generator.
The Tasmanian Government initially authorized Aurora Energy to negotiate a long-term power supply contract with Alinta. In 2008, Aurora Energy took over the project from Babcock & Brown Power—who had acquired Alinta Energy’s assets—and formed a subsidiary named "AETV Power" to finalize construction and manage operations.
Ownership shifted from Aurora Energy to Hydro Tasmania on 1 June 2013, making Hydro Tasmania the main electricity producer for the state.
After commissioning, generation was restricted due to low electricity demand, abundant rainfall, and extensive reliance on the Basslink interconnector with Victoria. In June 2014, Hydro Tasmania started mothballing the combined cycle unit and requested governmental permission to sell it in January 2015. By August that year, Hydro Tasmania revealed plans to decommission and sell the combined-cycle unit but intended to maintain the open-cycle turbines for peak demand periods. Nevertheless, temporary recruitment in December 2015 hinted at possible reactivation aimed at preserving dam water reserves.
On 21 December 2015, a fault caused Basslink to go offline; repairs were initially projected for completion by March 2016 but were only finalized in June. Shortly after restoration, another failure occurred but was resolved within two days.
During the energy crisis affecting Tasmania in 2016, Hydro Tasmania brought Tamar Valley Power Station back into operation to enhance electricity supply reliability.