The refurbishment work will involve building concrete buttresses to support the 49m high dam, eliminating the need for the cables.
'Under its Dam Safety Programme, Hydro Tasmania evaluates the condition and design of all its dams to ensure they meet current best practice,' said Andrew Pattle, Hydro Tasmania Manager Generation Assets. 'We have decided to refurbish Catagunya dam as we could no longer be 100% certain of the condition of steel cables.'
The work is expected to take 18 months to complete at a cost of around $25-30M. The company has submitted an application to the Assessment Committee for Dam Construction to carry out the refurbishment work and will be consulting with all stakeholders prior to the commencement of construction. The level of Lake Catagunya will be temporarily lowered during the construction period and will return to normal after the work is completed.
