AGL invests $27.7m to upgrade Clover hydro power station

This will add 14MW to the output capacity of the Kiewa Hydro Scheme

AGL Energy Limited is investing around $27.7m (A$40m) for the modernisation project for the Clover hydropower station in the state of Victoria in Australia.

In a statement, AGL said the upgrades along with design and fabrication work to the Clover power station, part of the company’s Kiewa Hydro Scheme, will start in July, adding that expenditure will be incurred from 2022 to 2026.

AGL COO Markus Brokhof said the Clover Modernisation Projection will augment the output capacity of the Kiewa Hydro Scheme by 14 megawatts (MW), which is equivalent to powering the entire Alpine region.

“Clover is the oldest station in the Kiewa Scheme and was commissioned in 1945.  As some of the kit becomes outdated and inefficient, there are quick wins to be made in increasing generation capacity by replacing old components and systems,” Brokhof said.

“When we look at the return on investment this $40 million investment makes complete sense in terms of decarbonisation and increased capacity – we expect the Kiewa Scheme to be supplying clean energy to our customers well into the future,” he added.

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The company said the project entails the replacement of turbines, generators, and inlet valves to increase the throughput at the power station to 140 megalitres per hour (ML/h), from 120ML/h. It will also create 25 local jobs during the construction, including the appointment of local contractors for site mobilisation.

Clover hydropower station provides support in case of peak demand periods and other outages. The project also achieves a 7% increase in overall generation with no change to water storage levels, according to AGL.

AGL has invested over $3.3b (A$4.8b) in the last 20 years in renewables and firming generation, and over 2,350MW of new generation capacity added to the grid since 2003, it said.

$1 = A$1.44