Australian power generator, Hydro Tasmania has decided to drop its $2bn TasWind project, which was planned on King Island.
Setting up the stand-alone 600MW farm was ‘not economically viable’, according to Hydro Tasmania CEO Steve Davy. The project was announced in November last year. It intended to supply power to National Electricity Market via a high-voltage underwater cable from Bass Strait to Victoria.
If the project had become operational, it would have been able to support around 240,000 homes in Australia with its generation of 2,400GWh of renewable energy.
The firm’s decision of not going ahead with the plan was based on an analysis, which revealed the estimated capital costs to have gone up by $150m. Uncertainty around the country’s Renewable Energy Target was, however, not a deciding factor for the project cancellation.
Hydro Tasmania CEO Steve Davy said: “Our investigations eventually found that TasWind was not viable even if the RET was maintained at the existing level.
“The initial concept showed considerable promise but in the end the project simply did not stack up.”