Hydro Tasmania has said it is very disappointed with the news that the Basslink project will be delayed until April 2006.
“For three years we have been gearing our planning and preparation towards the commencement of Basslink in November this year,” Hydro Tasmania’s Chief Executive Officer Geoff Willis said today.
“It’s disappointing for us and for our partners in this project as they are working hard to deliver one of the most demanding infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Australia.
“Basslink is the world’s longest undersea electricity cable and while we always expected some challenges to arise in the construction phase, it’s unfortunate that damage to a key element of the project has happened during sea transit of the 200-tonne transformers.
“It is important to understand that our commercial obligations to Basslink Pty Ltd only commence when commissioning of Basslink is completed,” Mr Willis said.
“So our facility fee payments will be put on hold for five months.
“We are examining all contractual implications of the delay.
“We will obviously miss the opportunity of trading electricity during the 2005/2006 summer.
“However, Basslink is a 25-year deal so there will still be 25 summers for us to maximise our returns from Basslink.
“The important thing is technical integrity of the link and we know the owners have the same view.
“We can assure Tasmania of security of electricity supply,” Mr Willis said.
“As we do now, we will continue to have Bell Bay Power Station as backup to the hydro system until Basslink comes on line.
“We have already taken the necessary actions to ensure this is the case.”
Hydro Tasmania’s program for National Electricity Market entry remains on track.
ends