The Meander Dam was built for the Rivers and Water Supply Commission, primarily to store and release water for irrigation purposes. As part of the dam’s design, a provision was made for a hydro electric facility to be installed at its base.
The recently installed 1.95 megawatt hydro facility runs on energy from water released from the dam for irrigation further downstream and electricity production.
Tyco Tamar supplied the Meander Dam hydro package, which included the design, supply, installation and commissioning of the main inlet valve, guard valve, turbine, generator, switchboards, hydraulic power pack, local and remote control systems of the hydro, discharge valves and all monitoring systems.
The company was awarded the contract in 2007 and completed the commissioning phase in February 2008. Outflows for irrigation and environmental flows are controlled by the hydro unit.
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The hydro is a unique double Francis turbine design that incorporates a single inlet with two 680 mm diameter runners and two discharge draft tubes. The hydro unit can operate within the flow range of 1.65 to 5.5 m³ per second and heads of 22-41 metres. The machine spins at up to 750 revolutions per minute.
Tyco Tamar Plant Manager Mick Lemon said that so far the hydro facility has been very successful.
The Meander Dam, located approximately 70 kilometres west of Launceston, was constructed by McConnell Dowell and was completed in November, 2007. The dam’s capacity is 43,000 megalitres. It was constructed from Roller Compacted Concrete and has concrete panel faces on both the upstream and downstream sides.
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