Melbourne's largest water supply reservoir, Thomson is now 99.6% full & close to spilling for the first time for many years.
At the bottom of the dam wall was an outlet that used to release water to maintain the flow of the Thomson River.
During my time of employment at Melbourne Water my family & I were relocated to Rawson while I worked on the design & construction drawings for a power station to be connected to the outlet.
Basically the outlet water drives a turbine producing 7.4 megawatts.
Right now with so much water available that turbine would be running at full capacity.
At least there's one benefit to all this rain.
Power plant showing the settling pond for the water that's passed through the turbine.
Ugly but functional.
Dougwe said
07:31 AM Oct 28, 2022
WOW!
Some great pics there 86. Great history and I'm sure memories of there. Struth! How strong must that wall be in middle of pic holding the water back! If that was to give way, there would be plenty of sparks flying for sure I reckon.
I love old pics like those and the history that goes with them.
Who would have thunk when I was back sitting in History Class at school and many detentions for not finishing homework or projects (many, many moons back now) I would love history now.
You didn't read that Miss Fischer
Keep Safe out there and on the roads.
86GTS said
07:44 AM Oct 28, 2022
Thanks for the positive reply Dougwe. At least the power from that hydro power plant is renewable. I began my career with the State Electricity Commission working on the design of all of those huge polluting monoliths in the Latrobe Valley. Compared to coal fired power the one at Thomson is minuscule but at least it helps. We might take a day trip with a picnic lunch packed, up to Thomson if it spills as expected. Beautiful part of Victoria, might call into Walhalla along the way.
-- Edited by 86GTS on Friday 28th of October 2022 09:06:41 AM
Melbourne's largest water supply reservoir, Thomson is now 99.6% full & close to spilling for the first time for many years.
At the bottom of the dam wall was an outlet that used to release water to maintain the flow of the Thomson River.
During my time of employment at Melbourne Water my family & I were relocated to Rawson while I worked on the design & construction drawings for a power station to be connected to the outlet.
Basically the outlet water drives a turbine producing 7.4 megawatts.
Right now with so much water available that turbine would be running at full capacity.
At least there's one benefit to all this rain.
Power plant showing the settling pond for the water that's passed through the turbine.
Ugly but functional.
WOW!
Some great pics there 86. Great history and I'm sure memories of there. Struth! How strong must that wall be in middle of pic holding the water back! If that was to give way, there would be plenty of sparks flying for sure I reckon.
I love old pics like those and the history that goes with them.
Who would have thunk when I was back sitting in History Class at school and many detentions for not finishing homework or projects (many, many moons back now) I would love history now.
You didn't read that Miss Fischer
Keep Safe out there and on the roads.
Thanks for the positive reply Dougwe.
At least the power from that hydro power plant is renewable.
I began my career with the State Electricity Commission working on the design of all of those huge polluting monoliths in the Latrobe Valley.
Compared to coal fired power the one at Thomson is minuscule but at least it helps.
We might take a day trip with a picnic lunch packed, up to Thomson if it spills as expected.
Beautiful part of Victoria, might call into Walhalla along the way.
-- Edited by 86GTS on Friday 28th of October 2022 09:06:41 AM
There she goes, thanks for pics 86er
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-28/victorias-thomson-dam-spills-for-first-time-in-26-years/101589324?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web
It must have been disappointing to wait 26 years to see the hydro actually generate some power.
Maybe not a lot of thought went into its location or design.
I think we have missed something here.
I am sure it would have worked but maybe not at full output.
Yes Rick, I think maybe you are correct. Well at least I hope so.
The water spilling over the spillway has nothing to do with driving the power station turbine.
The turbine has been humming away putting power into the grid since it was built.
Its driven by water from an outlet pipe at the bottom of the dam wall that lets water out to maintain environmental flows to the river below the dam.
The more water that's released the more power is produced.
The rest of the water is held in storage in the reservoir.
The Thomson River eventually flows out into the Gippsland Lakes near Sale.
Thanks for the link Craig1.
We'll definitely be heading there this week!
Power Station bottom right adjacent to the plunge pool. Turbine would be running a maximum capacity.
-- Edited by 86GTS on Saturday 29th of October 2022 11:24:51 AM
Thank you for the explanation GTS.
I was sort of hoping I was wrong.