Lake Margaret Power Station

Lake Margaret Dam
Lake Margaret Power Station is located in Tasmania
Lake Margaret Power Station
Location of the Lake Margaret Dam in Tasmania
CountryAustralia
LocationWestern Tasmania
Coordinates41°59′24″S 145°34′48″E / 41.99000°S 145.58000°E / -41.99000; 145.58000
PurposePower
StatusOperational
Construction began1914 (1914)
Opening date1918 (1918)
Owner(s)Hydro Tasmania
Dam and spillways
Type of damGravity dam
ImpoundsYolande River
Height17 metres (56 ft)
Length243 metres (797 ft)
Dam volume6×10^3 m3 (210×10^3 cu ft)
Spillways1
Spillway typeUncontrolled
Spillway capacity29 m3/s (1,000 cu ft/s)
Reservoir
CreatesLake Margaret
Total capacity15,374 megalitres (542.9×10^6 cu ft)
Catchment area21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi)
Surface area15.83 hectares (39.1 acres)
Lake Margaret Power Station
Coordinates41°59′24″S 145°34′48″E / 41.99000°S 145.58000°E / -41.99000; 145.58000
Operator(s)Hydro Tasmania
Commission date
  • 1914 (1914) (A, B, C & D);
  • 1918 (1918) (E & F);
  • 1930 (1930) (G);
  • 2009 (2009) (recommission A-G)
Decommission date2006 (2006) (A-G)
Type
Hydraulic head325 metres (1,066 ft)
Turbines
Installed capacity8.4 megawatts (11,300 hp)
Annual generation69 gigawatt-hours (250 TJ)
Website
hydro.com.au/energy/our-power-stations/king-yolande
[1]

The Lake Margaret Power Stations comprise two hydroelectric power stations located in Western Tasmania, Australia. The power stations are part of the King – Yolande Power Scheme and are owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania. Officially the Upper Lake Margaret Power Station, a conventional hydroelectric power station, and the Lower Lake Margaret Power Station, a mini-hydroelectric power station, the stations are generally collectively referred to in the singular format as the Lake Margaret Power Station. The stations are located approximately 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) apart.

The Upper Lake Margaret Power Station was constructed by the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company between 1911 and 1914. The 'concrete dam, pipeline, power house, transmission lines and all the necessary machinery were erected ... under the supervision of George [W.] Wright' Chief Mechanical Engineer.[2] In 1984, the station was sold to the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric Commission and was officially decommissioned in 2006 and, after a multimillion-dollar refit, was recommissioned in 2009.[3][4][5] The Lower Lake Margaret Power Station was built also by the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company in 1931 and decommissioned in 1995. After the implementation of a mini-hydro project in 2009, the project was recommissioned in 2010.[6]

  1. ^ "Register of Large Dams in Australia". Dams information. Australian National Committee on Large Dams. 2010. Archived from the original (Excel (requires download)) on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  2. ^ Porter, Kenneth Wiggins (December 1955). "The Peaks of Lyell. By Geoffrey Blainey. Victoria, Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1954; New York, Cambridge University Press, 1955. Pp. x + 310. $5.00". Business History Review. 29 (4): 371–373. doi:10.2307/3111866. ISSN 0007-6805.
  3. ^ Ford, Sean (12 November 2009). "Lake Margaret Power Station reopened". The Advocate. Tasmania. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  4. ^ "The redeveloped Lower Lake Margaret power station near Queenstown was officially opened today by the Minister for Energy and Resources Bryan Green" (Press release). Hydro Tasmania. 23 July 2010.
  5. ^ Mathers, P. (2010). "Lake Margaret Power Scheme: a long history and assured future". Australian Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering (Heritage paper report). 7 (1). The Institution of Engineers, Australia (published 1 February 2010): 89(11). doi:10.1080/1448837X.2010.11464261. ISSN 1448-837X. S2CID 111504167.
  6. ^ "Lower Lake Margaret mini hydro: Technical fact sheet" (PDF). King - Yolande Catchment. Hydro Tasmania. Retrieved 6 July 2015.