HYDRO ELECTRICITY
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Kiewa Hydro-electric Scheme
The idea of a Hydro-electric Scheme in the Upper Kiewa Valley dates back to the early 1900s. However it wasn't until the 1930s that the actual potential of the Kiewa for hydro-electricity production was first documented.
The size of the scheme varied immensely over the years it took to plan and implement; 115 Megawatts (MW) in 1937, 289MW in 1946 (when construction began) and 184MW at completion in the 1960s.
The original design specified major water storages at Rocky Valley, Pretty Valley (Upper East Kiewa) and in the West Kiewa Valley. The project as envisaged in 1946 was never completed; of the five planned power stations, only three were ever built (McKay Creek, Clover and Kiewa West).
As well, the major storages at Pretty Valley, and in the West Kiewa Valley were never built.
McKay Creek (an underground station) is open for visitor inspection, however the other Kiewa stations can only be viewed from the outside.
Clover Power Station stands close to the Bogong High Plains Road, whereas Kiewa West involves a small one-way detour.
Inspection times and further information can be obtained from the Tourist Information Centre in Mount Beauty.
The original base camp for the project was Bogong Village (see the section on Scenic Drives). However the 1946 version of the Scheme made this picturesque mountain village an impossible headquarters. Base camp was moved to the floodplain of the Kiewa River, and a new township called Mount Beauty (after a nearby peak) was created.
Nestling between the East and West Branch of the Kiewa River, Mount Beauty, with its mix of Tyrolia and construction village architecture is an attractive tourist town.
In more recent years, a further hydro power station was built at Bogong Village.
This took three years to construct (2006 – 2009) and provides 140MW, mainly for peak period demand.
Unlike the other power stations in the Kiewa System, this one does not have a dam; instead it uses water that has previously passed through the McKay Creek Power Station (this involves utilising a seven kilometre long tunnel, bored through the mountain side).
Dartmouth Dam
The huge Dartmouth Dam was completed in 1982 (as a major irrigation storage for the Murray Darling Irrigation System) and stores water from the Mitta Mitta River and its major tributaries (including the Bundarah, Cobungra and Gibbo Rivers).
The dam is located near the new village of Dartmouth, the original township having been submerged by the rising waters of the storage.
The lake created by the dam has a surface area of 62sq/km, extending back 40km from the dam wall.
The turbine (a single unit) has a capacity of 180 megawatts, and discharges into Banimboola Pondage; the outlet from the pondage drives a further turbine, before the water finds its way back to the river bed.
Power from Dartmouth is linked to the main distribution network via a link to Mount Beauty, passing through the high country to the north of Mount Bogong.
Lake William Hovell
This small, but very scenic, lake is located on the East Branch - King River, 20km south of Whitfield, and was for many years just an irrigation storage.
In later years (that is, 1993) a small hydro power plant was added, and along with several other small scale hydro installations in Victoria (such as the one at Lake Glenmaggie in Gippsland) provide a useful amount of renewable energy in the irrigation season.
Camping is not permitted on the lakeshore - the nearest formal camping areas are at Whitfield, and slightly further north, with fewer amenities, at Edi Cutting.
Lake Hume
Lake Hume is the main irrigation storage for the Murray Valley, and was built at the confluence of the Mitta Mitta and Murray Rivers in the 1950s
In 1918, the River Murray Commission unveiled plans for a new super-dam at the confluence of the Mitta Mitta and Murray Rivers, and part of this initial design included the news that the existing town of Tallangatta would need to be relocated.
However, Stage 1 of the project (completed in 1936) left Tallangatta untouched, but it was expected that inundation would be an option at sometime in the future.
Finally, in the early 1950s, the dam wall of Lake Hume was raised, and time was up for the old township.
A site near the railway siding of Bolga (on the now dismantled Wodonga - Cudgewa Rail) was selected as a suitable place for the new town, and the big move began, with the new township being officially opened in 1956.
The original hydro installation (completed in 1957) had two 25MW turbines, but these were upgraded to 29MW each in 2000, with an average annual output of about 220 gigawatt-hours.
MOUNT BEAUTY (includes Pondage Walk and Mount Bogong)
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