Project Description

Trilab is providing specialised testing of ground investigation works for Hydro Tasmania’s proposed Cethana Pumped Hydro Project located in the north-west region of Tasmania.

As the Australian electricity market’s switch to renewable energy accelerates, there is an increasing focus on pumped hydro to supply electricity on demand in periods where traditional renewables are not available.

Cethana was selected as the preferred site because of its deep storage capacity, cost-effectiveness and higher technical certainty, and environmental and social sustainability. The project will use the existing Lake Cethana as the lower storage and a new upper storage would be built along with an underground power station and underground tunnels connecting the two. The project will have a generating capacity of 750 MW and a storage capacity of 20 hours with construction taking approximately six years.

Large volumes of the relatively rare clay mineral Halloysite are present at the proposed upper storage site. The high water content of this mineral presents problems for some analysis using traditional methods. Trilab’s ability to run customised trials along with our extensive suite of specialised soil testing will allow Hydro Tasmania to gain a better understanding of soil behaviour and local geotechnical characteristics at the site.

Image courtesy of Hydro Tasmania

Cethana pumped hydro project | Connect Hydro