Liapootah Power Station

Liapootah Dam
280px Liapotah Power Station turbines in 2000.
Location of the Paloona Dam in Tasmania
Country	Australia
Location	Central Highlands Tasmania
Coordinates
Purpose	Power
Status	Operational
Opening date	1960 (1960)
Owner(s)	Hydro Tasmania
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Gravity dam
Impounds	Nive River
Height	40 metres (130 ft)
Length	110 metres (360 ft)
Dam volume	37 thousand cubic metres (1.3×10^6 cu ft)
Spillways	1
Spillway type	Controlled crest drum gate
Spillway capacity	2,405 cubic metres per second (84,900 cu ft/s)
Reservoir
Creates	Lake Liapootah
Total capacity	1,880 megalitres (66×10^6 cu ft)
Catchment area	1,227 square kilometres (474 sq mi)
Surface area	2.1 hectares (5.2 acres)
Power station
Name	Liapootah Power Station
Coordinates
Operator(s)	Hydro Tasmania
Commission date	1960 (1960)
Type	Run-of-the-river
Hydraulic head	103 metres (338 ft)
Turbines	3 x 29.1 MW (39,000 hp) English Electric Francis-type turbines
Installed capacity	87.3 megawatts (117,100 hp)
Capacity factor	0.9
Annual generation	440 gigawatt-hours (1,600 TJ)
Website hydro.com.au/energy/our-power-stations/derwent-0/liapootah

The Liapootah Power Station is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The power station is situated on the Lower River Derwent catchment and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.

Technical details

Part of the Derwent scheme that comprises eleven hydroelectric power stations, the Liapootah Power Station is the first power station in the lower run-of-river system. The power station is located aboveground below Lake Liapootah. Water from the Derwent below the Tarraleah and Tungatinah Power Station is diverted through a 6.6-kilometre (4.1 mi) concrete lined tunnel. Lake Liapootah is very narrow and is considered a run of river storage. During high inflow events the pond level can threaten the Tarraleah Power Station upstream. The drum gate is designed to lower automatically and maintain a maximum pond level below the flood level of Tarraleah station. Having the drum gate installed maximises the head at Liapootah station. The alternative to this would have been to build the dam at a lower level, thus reducing the available output from Liapootah station.

The power station was commissioned in 1960 by the Hydro Electric Corporation (TAS) and the station has three 29.1-megawatt (39,000 hp) English Electric Francis turbines, with a combined generating capacity of 87.3 megawatts (117,100 hp) of electricity. Within the station building, each turbine has a fully embedded spiral casing and water flow is controlled by a spherical rotary main inlet valve and a turbine relief valve designed to prevent spiral casing overpressure. The station output, estimated to be 440 gigawatt-hours (1,600 TJ) annually, is fed to Transend Networks’ transmission grid via three banks of 11 kV/220 kV three-phase English Electric generator transformers to the outdoor switchyard.

See also

• List of power stations in Tasmania

External links

• Hydro Tasmania page on the Lower Derwent