The Rubicon Hydroelectric Scheme is a small run-of-the-river hydroelectric scheme located on the

Rubicon The Rubicon (; ; ) is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just south of Cesena and north of Rimini. It was known as ''Fiumicino'' until 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, crossed by Julius Caesar in 49 BC. The ri ...

and Royston Rivers, north east of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, south-west of

Alexandra, Victoria Alexandra is a town in north-east Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 130 kilometres north-east of the State Capital, Melbourne. It is located at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway (B340) and Maroondah Highway (B360), in the Sh ...

, Australia. The scheme commenced in 1922, and was the first state-owned

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

scheme to generate electricity in mainland Australia, and among the first in the world to be remotely controlled. For the first ten years of its operation it supplied on average 16.9% of electricity generated by the

State Electricity Commission of Victoria The State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SEC, SECV or ECV) is a government-owned electricity company in Victoria, Australia. Originally established to generate electricity from the state's reserves of brown coal, the SEC gradually monopoli ...

. It is now owned and operated by

AGL Energy AGL Energy Ltd is an Australian listed public company involved in both the generation and retailing of electricity and gas for residential and commercial use. It is one of the "big three" retailers in the National Electricity Market. AGL is ...

and contributes approximately 0.02% of Victoria's energy supply.AGL – Rubicon Hydroelectric Scheme
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History

In the 1920s, the

investigated

power generation, in parallel with work on

brown coal Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, Combustion, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered ...

-fired power stations at

Yallourn Yallourn, Victoria was a company town in Victoria, Australia built between 1921 and 1961 to house employees of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV), who operated the nearby Yallourn Power Station complex. However, expansion of th ...

. In 1922, a report was delivered by Messrs J.M. and H.E. Coane relating to the development of potential hydro-electric power on the

Goulburn River The Goulburn River, a major inland perennial river of the Goulburn Broken catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the Alpine, Northern Country/North Central, and Southern Riverina regions of the Australian state of Victor ...

and the Cerberean Range. Their findings were submitted to the

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria that follows a Westminster System, Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the Monarchy in Australia, King, represent ...

for funding, with the more cost effective project approved in 1922. Known as the Sugarloaf – Rubicon Project, the initial plan involved five power stations, with total turbine capacity of . It was to be the largest power scheme on the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission of Victoria's ongoing construction of the Sugarloaf storage reservoir for irrigation. Greatly enlarged in the 1950s, the reservoir is now called

Lake Eildon The Eildon Dam is a rock and earth-fill embankment dam with a controlled spillway, located on the Goulburn River between the regional towns of and within Lake Eildon National Park, in the Alpine region of Victoria, Australia. The dam's pur ...

. The four other power stations comprised two on the Rubicon, one on the Royston, and one on Snobs Creek. The plans were later altered, with the Snobs Creek station being deleted, and an additional station provided at Rubicon Falls, bringing the installed turbine capacity to over . The Sugarloaf Power Station generated electricity during the

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

season from October to April, when water released from the dam could also be used for power generation. The other four power stations were used during the wetter seasons of winter and spring. Work started in 1922 and, by 1928, the mountain stream section of the project was complete, with the Sugarloaf power station on the Eildon Weir following in 1929. Rubicon 'A' power station has a pipeline with a drop over its length. That station remotely controlled the other ones in the project. Minor enlargements were carried out at one station in 1954–55. In the 1950s, the Sugarloaf Power Station on the

was replaced by the larger Eildon Power Station, after the weir was replaced by a much higher dam wall at the same site. The turbines were upgraded and reused.

Details of the Rubicon Hydroelectric Scheme

Today, the scheme consists of three small run-of-river dams, four power stations, and associated raceways and

penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is of Scots origin, and was inherited from the earlier technology of mill pond ...

s. The total generating capacity of the scheme is approximately 13 megawatts, which is achieved during the winter months.

Royston Power Station

The Royston Dam is a concrete slab and buttress on the Royston River. It diverts water into an aqueduct that carries water for into the neighbouring Rubicon Valley to the Royston Power Station forebay. The Royston penstock consists of of

woodstave ] A stave is a narrow length of wood with a slightly bevelled edge to form the sides of barrels, tanks, tubs, vats and pipelines, originally handmade by coopers. They have been used in the construction of large holding tanks and penstocks at h ...

pipe on the upper section and of steel pipe on the lower section. The lower part of the woodstave section is now encased in concrete. The Royston Power Station has a capacity of . Water from the power station outlet discharges into the Rubicon aqueduct about halfway along its length.

Rubicon Power Station

The Rubicon Dam is a concrete-arch dam on the Rubicon River. It diverts water into the Rubicon aqueduct for to the site of the Royston Power Station, where it collects the water diverted through the power station from the Royston River. It then travels a further to the Rubicon Power Station forebay. The Rubicon penstock has a drop over its length. The Rubicon Power Station has two horizontal single-jet Pelton wheel generators.

Lower Rubicon Power Station

Water discharged from the Rubicon Power Station flows along a aqueduct, then through a , diameter penstock to the Lower Rubicon Power Station. This comprises a single horizontal generator. The discharge water from the power station is returned to the Rubicon River.

Rubicon Falls Power Station

The Rubicon Falls Dam is on the Rubicon River below the Rubicon Dam. It diverts water around the Rubicon Falls into the Rubicon Falls Power Station through a penstock. The power station has a single horizontal twin-jet Pelton wheel.

Tramway

A -gauge steel tramway (industrial), tramway was built for construction access between Rubicon Power Station and Rubicon Dam, with timber trestle bridges at Fifteen Thousand Foot Siphon, Royston Power Station, Beech Creek and Lubra Creek. The tramway remained in operation until the 1990s. An additional tramway was built for construction of the Royston power station and dam, and removed on completion. The trestle bridges were replaced after their destruction in the 1939 Black Friday bushfires, and were again replaced as part of a maintenance program in 1960s. The Royston and Lubra Creek bridges were replaced in 1987 and 1991 respectively. The Beech Creek bridge was destroyed in February 2009 by the Murrindindi Mill fire, one of the

Black Saturday bushfires The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria. Saturday, 7 February 2009 was one of Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. The fires occurred ...

. The Victorian Government agreed to rebuild the bridge in October 2011.

Heritage values

The Scheme is on the

Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. ...

and the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

, and the surrounding state forest is set aside for its protection. The historical significance of the scheme is increased by its century of continuous use in essentially original form.

References

External links

AGL: Rubicon Hydroelectric SchemeRubicon Hydroelectric Scheme, Rubicon, VIC, Australia
Australian Heritage Database, Department of the Environment
Notes for hikes in the Rubicon Valley Historic Area
{{coord, 37, 19, 37, S, 145, 51, 39, E, region:AU-VIC_type:landmark, display=title Victorian Heritage Register Environment of Victoria (state)