Building climate resilience at Hydro Tasmania
Client: Hydro Tasmania
Location: Tasmania, Australia
Date: Ongoing
Helping Australia’s largest renewable energy producer and water manager understand climate change impacts and take action to increase its climate resilience
Background
Changes to the climate present risks and opportunities for hydropower operations as rainfall and temperature patterns change. Climate change has strategic implications for Hydro Tasmania, Australia’s largest renewable energy producer and water manager. Climate change projections for Tasmania include changes to rainfall and run-off patterns across the state and changes to the frequency and severity of extreme weather events (floods and droughts). Secondary impacts such as increased risks of weather/flood damage to infrastructure, erosion, fire, and ecosystem effects could also affect Hydro Tasmania’s assets, operations, and water management responsibilities.
Solution
Entura has contributed to a number of Hydro Tasmania’s actions that help the business increase its resilience to climate change impacts, through:
- modelling water availability, system yields and floods in Tasmania under future climate conditions through the Climate Futures for Tasmania and Tasmania Sustainable Yields projects, to inform generation planning and storage and system management
- contributing to drought management, through assessment of environmental and social risks and mitigation measures, defining risk zones for key storages, and informing updates of storage operating rules to manage risks
- participating in upgrades to and maintenance of power stations, dams and other infrastructure to ensure that all assets are robust and able to withstand a wide range of potential scenarios, including extreme climate/weather conditions
- assisting with dam safety management, dam upgrades and emergency management planning to ensure safety and safe maintenance in extreme flood events, including management and removal of sediment, debris and logs.
Outcome
Entura’s experience and expertise have helped Hydro Tasmania better understand the potential implications of climate change for hydropower generation and water management and have helped the business take action to increase its climate resilience and operational flexibility. Our involvement in modelling future water availability has assisted Hydro Tasmania with generation planning and drought management, while our understanding of floods and engineering design has contributed to dam safety upgrades and emergency planning.
