Legislative Council, Wednesday 22 March 2023

Ms FORREST asked the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council, Mrs Hiscutt

With regard to the 29 hydro power stations currently operated by Hydro Tasmania:

Question (1):
What is the remaining useful life of each power station;

Answer:
Hydro Tasmania operates its hydro power stations and dams on a going-concern basis; i.e., they are assumed to be operating indefinitely into the future.

Hydro Tasmania operates a Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP) which communicates the business’ objectives, priorities and high-level planning for the management and operation of its assets over the coming decade. The SAMP incorporates the corporate strategy and objectives along with a comprehensive understanding of the current performance, condition and risk of its asset portfolio.

Use of the SAMP means that no hydro station will reach end of life (unless it has been strategically planned to do so), as refurbishment/upgrade/replacement activities will have occurred, resetting the useful life of the assets in the station.

As an example, Trevallyn Power Station operates four turbines. Turbines one and two have recently been refurbished and have useful lives to 2051. Turbines three and four are yet to be refurbished. They have a useful life to 2030 and the SAMP shows refurbishment work scheduled in FY2026/7.

All components of the power stations are treated in this way (e.g., including alternators, main inlet valves, control systems and transformers). As such, it is not possible to provide ‘a useful life of each power station’ in a meaningful way given the rolling program of upgrades, refurbishment and maintenance on the significant number of components of each power station.

Question(2):
What is the residual values at the end of life as per the latest annual review;

Answer:
The resetting process of the SAMP means that Hydro does not maintain a residual value on these assets.

Question (3):
Do the residual values include any demolition and rehabilitation outlays;
(ii) if not why not; and
(iii) if so, is the residual value for any asset a negative figure?

Answer:
This rolling process with the SAMP also means Hydro Tasmania does not hold a demolition provision for each station.

With regard to the useful life, residual values and rehabilitation costs for each of Hydro Tasmania’s dams:
Question (4):
What is the remaining useful life for each dam;

Answer:
As noted, Hydro Tasmania operates its hydro power stations and dams on a going-concern basis; i.e., they are assumed to be operating indefinitely into the future.
It is not possible to provide ‘a useful life of each dam’ in a meaningful way given the rolling program of upgrades, refurbishment and maintenance on the dams.

Question (5)
What are the residual values at the end of those dams lives as per the latest annual review;

Answer:
The resetting process of the SAMP means that Hydro does not maintain a residual value on these assets.

Question(6):
Do the residual values include any demolition and rehabilitation outlays; and
(i) if not why not; and
(ii) if so, is the residual value for any asset a negative figure?

Answer:
This rolling process with the SAMP also means Hydro Tasmania does not hold a demolition provision for each dam.