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Galaxias tanycephalus
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Threatened species project
Hydro Tasmania has begun a study in Great Lake and Arthurs Lake to examine the biology and ecology of threatened fishes in these important storages.
These storages are high priority lakes within the Tasmanian hydropower system and the presence of endemic and threatened galaxiid fishes elevates the environmental risks associated with low water levels caused by drought and the potential impact of climate change.
The study aims to establish relationships between critical habitats, fish populations and water levels, and develop water level management strategies in order to sustainably manage these unique ecosystems.
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Research and development
Hydro Tasmania’s research and development (R&D) strategy focuses on renewable energy technologies that potentially complement hydropower production, products and services that respond to market demand, innovations that improve the reliability of power supply, and initiatives to protect the environmental impact of our operations.
New projects started in 2008/09 include:
- potential benefits and impacts of
- plug-in vehicles for Hydro Tasmania
- thin film solar energy generation, products and services
- vertical axis water turbine technology for use in canal and flume flow
- using micro hydro systems in new ways for energy generation
- exploring ways to operate generation machinery to improve FCAS capability and supply
- the biology and ecology of threatened fish in Great Lake and Arthurs Lake
- determining preliminary guidelines for assessing ocean power technology in Tasmania.
Our R&D team is continually looking for ideas among employees and customers and assessing potential projects to identify those that match our business strategy and researchers’ capabilities. In the current global financial environment, it is more challenging to fund research projects through debt. However, there are opportunities to leverage other funding sources, such as federal government grants.
In 2007/08, our expenditure on R&D projects was 0.77 per cent of Hydro Tasmania’s total expenses. This is consistent with expenditure in 2006/07 (0.75 per cent), but less than the average in the Australian electricity, gas, water and waste service industries (1.1 to 1.2 per cent according to the latest available Australian Bureau of Statistics data). Please note that data lags by one financial year in line with ABS data and industry tax concession claims.
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