The Wivenhoe Power Station is situated between the Splityard Creek Dam and Lake Wivenhoe in the

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

Split Yard Creek Split Yard Creek is a rural Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Split Yard Creek had a population of 31 people. Geography The locality is triangular in shape, wide at the north ...

Somerset Region The Somerset Region is a local government area located in the West Moreton region of South East Queensland, Australia, northwest of the City of Brisbane. The region is centred on the town of Esk, which also serves as the council seat. Somer ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. The Splityard Creek Dam is located in hills adjacent to Lake Wivenhoe and is about above it. The power station is the only pumped storage hydroelectric plant in Queensland. The

Wivenhoe Dam Wivenhoe Dam is a rock and earth-fill embankment dam with a concrete spillway across the Brisbane River in South East Queensland, Australia. The dam takes it names from the local Wivenhoe Pocket rural community. The dam wall is located abou ...

has been built across the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River (Turrbal language, Turrbal: ) is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia. It flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the ...

about by road from the centre of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, the capital of the state of Queensland, Australia. The body of water held behind the dam is called Lake Wivenhoe.

Operation

The pumped storage hydroelectricity power station consists of two circular concrete silos, each of about internal diameter. Each of the silos houses a turbine generator spinning at 120 rpm and pump set, giving a total capacity of . During the pumping phase in the operating cycle the generator operates as a electric motor driving the pump to lift water from Lake Wivenhoe to the upper storage of the 28,600-megalitre Splityard Creek Dam. When

peak demand Peak demand on an electrical grid is the highest electrical power demand that has occurred over a specified time period (Gönen 2008). Peak demand is typically characterized as annual, daily or seasonal and has the unit of power. Peak demand, pe ...

for electricity occurs the flow of water is reversed, flowing from the upper to the lower storage and driving the turbine generator to generate electricity. The Splityard Creek Dam has sufficient capacity for 10 hours of continuous power generation. It takes about 14 hours of pumping to refill it. Wivenhoe is used in 20% of peak hours, reducing peak price obtained by other power plants. It earned almost $35 million when the

Callide Power Station Callide Power Station is an electricity generator at Mount Murchison, Shire of Banana, Queensland, Australia. It is coal-powered with four steam turbines with a combined generation capacity of 1,544 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Callide A was ...

failed in 2021. The power station is owned and operated by CleanCo Queensland a

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

owned corporation. Twin 275KV transmission lines connect the power station to Queensland's grid system. A second hydro-electric power station known as Wivenhoe Small Hydro powered by water discharging from the

into the

commenced operation in March 2003. It has a much lower power output of 4.5 MW. In 2021, a major overhaul project was planned to preserve the reliability of the plant, and to create 100 new jobs in accordance to Australia's recovery plan from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2021, a major overhaul of the station was undertaken. It included the repair and refurbishment of one of the turbines, corrosion protection painting of machinery and pipes, and repairs to a transformer.

References

External links

*CleanCo Qld page o
Wivenhoe Power Station
{{EnergyQueensland Energy infrastructure completed in 1984 Hydroelectric power stations in Queensland Pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations in Australia Brisbane River Buildings and structures in Somerset Region 1984 establishments in Australia

Operation

See also

References

External links