Legislative Council, Tuesday 18 August 2026
Ms FORREST question to MINISTER for ENERGY and RENEWABLES, Mr DUIGAN
Thanks, Mr President. Last week I asked you about why it had been necessary to run gas from the Tamar Valley Power Station and you informed me that it was due to a planned scheduled maintenance outage of a machine at Poatina. I also asked whether it’s just being run to meet Tasmanian demand or is the gas also being run to sell as an export. You said you would take it on notice. You answered some questions already from the member for Hobart, which you took on notice. I hope you can answer these.
ANSWER
My memory of that answer was the fact that with Poatina being down, we needed enough generation to meet Tasmanian demand, so with Poatina down, Tamar Valley runs. To meet the total demand on‑island in Tasmania, we have to have enough generation to meet that demand. We need to run Tamar Valley.
Tamar Valley Power Station – Exports
Ms FORREST question to MINISTER for ENERGY and RENEWABLES, Mr DUIGAN
I acknowledge that. The question was, has the Tamar Valley Power Station been run when it’s not required or there is excess generation from the Tamar Valley Power Station that’s used for export? Or is it just to meet Tasmanian demand? There is no energy exported, when it’s being topped up by the Tamar Valley Power Station. As a green renewable energy state, I think we need to be clear about what’s being exported.
ANSWER
Thank you. I appreciate the question. At the Tamar Valley Power Station, the large generator is a combined‑cycle generator which doesn’t scale up and down quickly. It takes a number of days to do that. Once it is up and going, it tends to stay up and going, and it would be delivering its nominal sticker‑plate output for the period of time that it is run.
Tamar Valley Power Station – Exports
Ms FORREST question to MINISTER for ENERGY and RENEWABLES, Mr DUIGAN
My question then to the minister is, have there been exports into notionally higher priced markets, but not necessarily – one would think we’re only exporting to higher priced markets – when the Tamar Valley Power Station has been generating in excess of Tasmania’s needs?
ANSWER
I will seek some advice, Mr President.
Thanks, Mr President. I will just reiterate what I read out last week. Again, on Tamar Valley, the combined‑cycle machine, which takes time – and because the turbine has a minimum operating load and cannot be frequently started and stopped, it continues generating, even when demand is lower. As a result, while the unit is running to support Tasmania’s requirements, it can also contribute energy exports from the broader system during periods when local demand is not at its peak. So, I think it’s fair to say that if the Tamar Valley is running and we are exporting, then you could find electrons in that stream that have been generated by the Tamar Valley Power Station.