Tarraleah Redevelopment procurement: design and staging notes for hydropower engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on Roads & Infrastructure (AU)
30 Second Briefing
Procurement has opened for the first phase of construction on the Tarraleah Redevelopment Project in Tasmania, with the state government calling tenders for major works on the existing hydropower scheme. The upgrade would lift installed capacity from 90 MW to about 190 MW, requiring substantial new civil works on water conveyance, powerhouse infrastructure and grid connection. For designers and contractors, key issues will include staging works around existing assets, hydraulic performance of new headrace structures and foundations in a steep, high‑rainfall catchment.
Technical Brief
- Tendering contractors will need to sequence works around live hydropower operations and legacy infrastructure.
- High-rainfall, steep catchment implies challenging temporary works, access roads and slope stabilisation requirements.
- Redevelopment must integrate with existing dams, canals and tunnels, constraining geometry and foundation options.
Our Take
Uplifting the Tarraleah Hydropower Scheme from 90 MW to about 190 MW places it in the mid-scale range of Australian hydro assets, which typically makes civil works and geotechnical risk (dams, tunnels, underground caverns) a larger share of total project cost than electro‑mechanical equipment.
Within our 678 Infrastructure stories, Tasmanian projects appear far less frequently than east-coast mainland schemes, so this redevelopment is likely to be a bellwether for how the state packages procurement and risk allocation on future hydro and grid-support works.
For contractors, the step-change in capacity at Tarraleah suggests the procurement stage will likely emphasise constructability in steep terrain and brownfield interface management, areas where prior Australian hydro upgrade experience can be a differentiator in bids.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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