AGL owns 10 hydroelectric generating schemes comprising 16 power stations in Victoria and NSW.
 
AGL's hydro assets produce no greenhouse gas emissions and are renewable and long life assets that provide considerable long term benefits to the company's asset portfolio. Their generating characteristics provide greater flexibility to the wholesale electricity portfolio through the quick start up capabilities of 610 MW of capacity across the southern National Electricity Market (NEM). The hydro generation assets are operated by AGL through an experienced management and operations team of around 70 employees based at AGL sites in Mt Beauty and Eildon, Victoria.

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Dartmouth

The Dartmouth Power Station commenced in January 1981. The 180 MW single generator is the largest hydrogenerator in Australia.

The station was built in conjunction with the Dartmouth Dam on the Mitta Mitta River in north-eastern Victoria. It is located at the foot of the dam wall and operates on irrigation water released from the reservoir.

The downstream river flow is controlled by three surge control dams and a regulating pondage. The capacity of this regulating pondage was increased in 2003 to further optimise the power station's generation flexability.

Irrigation water releases can by-pass the power station if necessary, via high level and low level outlets.

AGL Hydro has an entitlement to draw a certain quantity of water each year to generate electricity at any time.

Annual electricity output from Dartmouth Power Station is expected to average about 310 million kWh, but is subject to wide seasonal variation.

The station is connected to the electricity grid via a 220kV transmission line to Mt Beauty, 40km away.

The power station and regulating dam are remotely operated by  AGL's permanently staffed Control Centre in Mt Beauty.

The Murray Darling Basin Commission controls releases from the dam to meet irrigation requirements. Generally water is only released to meet farmers requirements for summer crops.

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Eildon

Eildon Power Station consists of two 67MW generators, one commissioned in 1956 and the other in 1957, and two 7.5MW generators. These 7.5MW generators were initially retired in 1971 and were recently re-commissioned in 2001.

Water from Lake Eildon is delivered to the power station by a steel-lined pressure tunnel seven metres in diameter and 366 metres long. On discharge from the power station the water flows into a regulating pondage for controlled release into the Goulburn River. This pondage allows flexibility in the operation of the power station. Water can be taken from the reservoir for power generation at times of the day when electricity demand is highest. It is held in the pondage, then discharged into the river at a uniform rate to meet Victorian irrigation needs.

Eildon Power Station operates mainly during the summer when irrigation water is released, but there is provision for limited output in winter. AGL Hydro can draw an agreed amount of water from the reservoir each year to generate electricity at any time.

The limited quantity of water available under this special arrangement is not sufficient for sustained generation, but it is very useful in helping to meet the short-lived peaks in electricity demand. On average the Eildon Power Station produces about 225 million kWh of electricity per annum.

The station is remotely controlled from AGL's permanently staffed Control Centre in Mt Beauty.

Goulburn Murray Water controls releases to meet irrigation requirements.

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Yarrawonga

Yarrawonga Power Station is situated at the Yarrawonga Weir on Lake Mulwala on the Murray River, which is part of the Murray-Darling Basin. Completed in July 1994, Yarrawonga Power Station has a capacity of 9.5 MW with an annual energy output of around 50 GWh.

Flows are essentially based on irrigation releases and flood control and are governed by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC).

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Banimboola

Banimboola Power Station is located on the regulating pondage (Lake Banimboola) of Dartmouth Power Station, Victoria's largest hydro power station. It was completed in December 2005.

Banimboola Power Station utilises irrigation water leaving the regulating pondage as it is released from Dartmouth Dam into the Mitta Mitta river.

The power station uses three horizontal Kaplan type turbo generators, two large units of 5 MW & one smaller unit of 2.2 MW. The smaller unit is capable of generating even during low river releases. The power station has a total capacity of 12.2 MW,  with an average annual energy output in the order of 35 GWh.

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Kiewa

The Kiewa hydroelectric scheme is the largest scheme in Victoria.

The Kiewa hydroelectric scheme was built over more than 20 years from the late 1930s until 1961, with construction interrupted by the Second World War.

Located in the Australian Alps in north-eastern Victoria, about 200km from Melbourne, the scheme has been developed solely for power generation. It has three power stations with a total capacity of 241MW and an average annual electricity output of 340 GWh.

The scheme diverts and harnesses the Rocky Valley and Pretty Valley branches of the East Kiewa River, which rises on the Bogong High Plains, and the West Kiewa River, which rises near Mount Hotham. The Kiewa scheme utilises the water from some 310 square kilometres of the Kiewa River catchment. In addition, 32km of aqueducts transfer water to the scheme from adjacent catchments, with much of the water coming from snow, which covers the area for up to five months each year.

AGL Hydro, in conjunction with other land management agencies, carry out an active program of forest and land management. This ensures that the area is maintained for the enjoyment of summer and winter visitors, as well as safeguarding its water-yielding potential for renewable clean hydroelectric power.

The three power stations in the scheme are: 

The flow of water through these stations at successively lower levels enables the same water to be used repeatedly to generate electricity before being discharged into the river system below Mt Beauty.

Rocky Valley Dam, at an altitude of 1600m on the Bogong High Plains (the highest storage dam for hydroelectric generation in Australia) forms the main reservoir for the Kiewa scheme and can hold 28,000 million litres. Water for McKay Creek Power Station flows from this reservoir and via a diversion dam from Pretty Valley. It flows by tunnels nearly 5.5 kilometres under the mountains, then by 1250m of surface pipeline and finally by steel-lined pressure tunnel. The station, with six 25MW generators, is located 80m underground on the slopes of Mt McKay.

Water discharged from McKay Creek Power Station flows down the Pretty Valley branch to Bogong Village. Just below the junction is Lake Guy, which forms the head storage of the Clover Power Station. Water is conveyed to the two 14.5MW generators of Clover Power Station through a rock and steel-lined pressure tunnel. After use, it is discharged into a pondage formed by Clover Dam. This forms the head storage for the last power station in the chain, West Kiewa, built 140m underground.

A tunnel from the Clover Dam storage is joined by another which carries water from a diversion dam on the West Kiewa River. The combined flow passes through an unlined rock pressure tunnel to the four 15.5MW generators. Water from this station is discharged to a regulating pondage at Mt Beauty for release into the Kiewa River. The pondage smooths out fluctuations in the river flow so that variations in electrical output do not cause excessive variations in river flow.

West Kiewa power station was the first underground power station to be built in Australia. It comprises four generators with a total capacity of 62 MW. AGL are undertaking an upgrade project to 74 MW.

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Rubicon

Victoria's oldest scheme is based on the use of the waters of the Rubicon and Royston rivers, tributaries of the Goulburn River.

The scheme comprises a group of four small power stations - Royston, Rubicon, Lower Rubicon and Rubicon Falls 1926 -operating on natural river flows. The total generating capacity of the scheme is a little over 25 MW.

The output of the Rubicon Power Stations is usually highest during winter and spring when river flows are at a peak. During these periods output averages approximately 13MW.

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Bogong

AGL is building the largest hydroelectric scheme developed in mainland Australia for the last 20 years. Located at Bogong, 300 kilometres northeast of Melbourne in Victoria, the scheme along with the project at Baninoola, will be able to provide renewable electricity to over 120,000 homes during peak summer demand.

The project diverts water normally discharged into the Pretty Valley Creek from the existing Middle Kiewa power station. The water will run down a 5.7 kilometre tunnel to a new power station on the shores of Lake Guy. This minimises the environmental impact of the project and returns the water flow within the Pretty Valley Creek to near natural conditions.

The Bogong hydroelectric scheme addresses Victoria’s need for peaking and renewable electricity generation without having to construct any new dams.

The entire construction program is sensitive to the environment and will bring considerable economic, tourism, infrastructure and educational benefits to the local and surrounding communities.

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Irrigation Generation

Burrendong, Copeton, Glenbawn and Pindari are located on dams owned and operated by the NSW Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The primary purposes of the dams are to provide irrigation releases and flood mitigation to downstream areas. The irrigation releases are passed through the power stations to generate electricity where possible.

The power stations have a combined capacity of 50.7 MW, and a long term average energy output of approximately 150 GWh. The turbines in the stations are twin Francis turbines.

Burrengdong Power Station is situated at the base of Burrendong dam on the Macquarie River (which ultimately flows into the Darling River). The station is capable of a maximum output of 18 MW, which feeds directly into the local electricity network. The power station was completed in August 1996.

Copetoun Power Station is situated at Copeton Dam near Inverell, on the Gwydir River (which ultimately flows into the Darling River). The station is capable of a maximum output of 20 MW and was commissioned in December 1996.

The Glenbawn Power Station is situated on Glenbawn Dam near Scone, on the Hunter River (which ultimately flows east into the Pacific Ocean). The power station has a maximum output of 5 MW and was completed in January 1995.

The Pindari Power Station is situated down stream of Pindari Dam in Northern NSW, on the Severn River (which ultimately flows into the Darling then Murray Rivers). The power station has a maximum output of 5.7 MW and was commissioned in October 2001.

Cairn Curran power station was built in 1960 at the Cairn Curran Reservoir on the Loddon River, near Castlemaine (Victoria) . It is a small installation of 2 MW capacity, operating solely on irrigation outflows.

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