The 140 m (460 ft)-high concrete arch Gordon Dam, built in 1974; one of the many assets owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
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Hydro Tasmania | |
Formerly called
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Hydro-Electric Commission |
Government enterprise | |
Industry | Utilities |
Founded | 1929 |
Headquarters | Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
Area served
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Tasmania |
Key people
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G. Every-Burns (Chairman) S. Davey (CEO) |
Products | 2,615 megawatts (3,507,000 hp) of electricity |
Services | Electricity generation |
A$1,500 million (2015) | |
A$62 million (2015) | |
Total assets | A$5,195 million (2015) |
Owner | Government of Tasmania |
Number of employees
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1062 (2015) |
Subsidiaries | Momentum Energy, Entura |
Website | www |
Footnotes / references |
Hydro Tasmania, known for most of its history as the Hydro-Electric Commission or The Hydro, is the trading name of the Hydro-Electric Corporation, is a Tasmanian Government business enterprise which is the predominant electricity generator in the state of Tasmania, Australia. The Hydro was originally oriented towards hydro-electricity, due to Tasmania's dramatic topography and relatively high rainfall in the central and western parts of the state. Today Hydro Tasmania operates thirty hydro-electric and one gas power station, and is a joint owner in three wind farms.
The Minister for Energy, currently the Hon. Matthew Groom MP, has portfolio responsibility for Hydro Tasmania. Hydro Tasmania operates under the Government Business Enterprises (GBE) Act 1995 and the Hydro-Electric Corporation Act 1995, and has a reporting requirement to the Treasurer of Tasmania, currently the Hon. Peter Gutwein MP. Hydro Tasmania is projected to pay the Tasmania Government a dividend of A$42 million in 2016.
In 1914, the State Government set up the Hydro-Electric Department (changed to the Hydro-Electric Commission in 1929) to complete the first HEC power station, the Waddamana Hydro-Electric Power Station. Prior to that two private hydro-electric stations had been opened the Launceston City Council's Duck Reach Power Station, opened 1895 on the South Esk River (it was one of the first hydro-electric power stations in the southern hemisphere. Reefton in New Zealand is the first municipal hydro-station, beginning operations in 1888) and the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company's Lake Margaret Power Station, opened in 1914. Both these power stations were taken over by the HEC and closed in 1955 and 2006 respectively