The Lake Margaret Power Station is the third oldest hydro-electric power plant in Tasmania, Australia. It was constructed between 1911 and 1914, by the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company. It was sold to the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric Commission in 1984, and was officially decommissioned on 30 June 2006, and recommissioned in 2009 after a multi-million refit [1] and officially re-opened[2]
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In 1911 the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company decided to make more extensive use of electricity in its smelting operations in the mining town of Queenstown, on Tasmania's west coast. It selected Lake Margaret, a small lake high up on Mount Sedgwick, to the north-west of the town, as its catchment area.
In 1911, construction of a dam was commenced, which raised the original lake by six metres. The water was originally conveyed from the dam via a 2.2 kilometre wood stave pipeline. The Australian Woodpipe Company was consulted and employed to construct the wooden pipeline. The Mount Lyell Mining & Railway Company determined that not only was a wooden pipeline cheaper to construct, but it was also more efficient and durable than iron or steel. The local native Tasmanian timber King Billy Pine was studied but it was decided not to be suitable. In a letter dated 13 June 1913, Albert G. McDonald, an interstate representative for the Australian Woodpipe Company, wrote to Robert Carl Sticht, the General Manager of the Mount Lyell Mining & Railway Co Ltd:
With regard to King William Pine, we are sorry to say that we do not consider this at all suitable for the purpose of pipe construction on account of its lack of uniform density. We did prepare an estimate for constructing the pipe at your Works from Pine to be supplied by you, and our estimate actually worked out at a lower figure than that of your engineers, but we feel that we would not like to be associated with the manufacture of a pipe made from this timber. We regret being compelled to arrive at this decision because we have been searching Australasia for a suitable timber, and thought that the Pine in question might have answered the purpose.
The wood stave pipeline was subsequently constructed from Oregon Pine (Douglas Fir), which was imported from Canada. The timber was shipped to the west coast town of Strahan and was transported to the Lake Margaret precinct via the ABT Railway. This pipeline rapidly deteriorated and in 1938 was replaced by a King Billy Pine wood stave pipeline, with the timber sourced locally. This pipeline was still in service until the 30 June 2006 closure of the Lake Margaret Power Scheme.
The wood stave pipeline originally joined two 29-inch-diameter (740 mm) steel penstock pipes which dropped 330 meters to the power station building in the Yolande Valley below. Due to the efficiency of the scheme another penstock pipe was added in 1919. Due to internal deterioration these pipes were replaced in 1969 with a single 48-inch-diameter (1,200 mm) steel pipe, by contractor John Holland. This replacement coincided with major refurbishment of the power station building, renewal of sections of the Lower Power Scheme wood stave pipeline, replacement of the transmission lines between the power station and the Queenstown substation, and post-stressing of the Lake Margaret dam wall.
The Lake Margaret Lower Power Scheme was opened in 1931. Showcasing the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the men in charge at the time, it was located downstream from the main power station and utilised water that had already powered the turbines in the main station. It housed a single Boving-Francis type turbine which, whilst having to be manually started, could be remotely controlled from the main power station, demonstrating a unique system that is considered significant in the history of power generation in Tasmania and Australia. The Lower Power Scheme was mothballed in the early 1990s.
The power plant itself produced 8.4 megawatts of peak power from seven Pelton turbines, with an average output of 5.5 megawatts (limited by rainfall into the catchment) 4 of which were in service from when the building opened in 1914, 2 since 1919 and the 7th since 1930.
Throughout 2005 the old plant was still in full-time use, but became the subject of debate. The Lake Margaret Precinct and Power Station have been nominated to be included in the state Heritage register, due to the unique nature of being an integral part of West Coast history that has not been closed down or destroyed, which is the fate of many of the man made structures on the west coast that no longer serve purposes for the mining or other industries.
On 30 June 2006 the Lake Margaret Power Station closed, due to the cost and increasing difficulty of maintaining the decrepit King Billy Pine pipeline. In the days immediately before closure, 5 machines were operating at full output, one was idle due to insufficient water pressure and another out of service due to requiring replacement turbine buckets.
At the time of closure the pipeline was estimated to be losing 10% of the water it carried due to leakage. During early 2007 the extent of leakage was sufficient of itself to draw down the level in Lake Margaret by around 10% during a period of very low rainfall. At this time the pipeline was still under pressure although the power station remained closed.
The Hydro has proposed refurbishment of the scheme with a return to operation around 2009-10. Community consultation found a strong preference for refurbishment using the existing machines plus a new woodstave pipeline rather than the use of new machines or a steel pipe. Hydro is currently considering the redevelopment in view of the financial and practical implications.
Any re-use of the existing machinery would likely involve the installation of automatic shutdown capability to avoid the need for 24 hour manning of the power station in order to improve the economics of refurbishment. All of Tasmania's other major hydro-electric power stations were either originally built to operate unmanned (standard procedure for new power stations in Tasmania since the 1950s) or have been refurbished in recent years to enable unmanned operation.
On Sunday 18 March 2007 Hydro Tasmania hosted the Back to Lake Margaret Day at the Lake Margaret Hydro-Electric Scheme. The event was an open invitation to all people interested in the past and future of the Lake Margaret scheme. Previous residents and employees were invited to attend, and the day was officially opened by Alex Wilkinson, the oldest known person who has an association with the scheme.
During the day the mothballed power station was open for inspection, as were two of the empty c1914 cottages which had formerly housed many of the attendees at the event. The village hall was a hive of activity during the day, with aged photographs being pinned the walls and people reminiscing about their time at Lake Margaret. The date was chosen to coincide with the Mount Lyell Twenty-Five Year Reunion Dinner, which was held in Queenstown on the same weekend and included many past employees who also have an association with Lake Margaret. Over 250 people attended the Back To Lake Margaret Day.
In 2010 following the various public and other efforts - the Lake Margaret system was re-opened [3]
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