The cause of the fire that tore through Hydro Tasmania’s Tungatinah Power Station could take weeks to determine, as the state government pledges the Central Highlands station will be rebuilt.
Nobody was on site and nobody was hurt when the fire gutted the main building at Tarraleah on Wednesday night.
Energy and Renewables Minister Nick Duigan said the station, which supplies just under 5% of the state’s power, would return to service.
“We will be back, we will rebuild and we’ll be back generating electricity here at site in the not-too-distant future,” Duigan said.
Hydro Tasmania executive general manager of strategy and commercial Erin van Maanen said the company would assess the site before planning a rebuild.
She said most of the damage was above ground and Hydro was hopeful about the plant below ground pending assessment.
No timeline or cost has been given. Van Maanen said the cost would be significant but insurance was in place.
There was no threat to jobs, she said, with area crews working across Hydro’s network.
Tasmania Fire Service regional fire investigator Tim Mackay said the investigation was in its early stages, with crews working to pinpoint the origin before examining possible ignition sources.
“It is complex and it’s very much in its infancy,” Mackay said. “We’re not at a stage to actually rule anything in or out.”
He said the size of the building and extent of the damage had made the job difficult.
He said the site would stay largely untouched during the investigation.
Duigan and Hydro said there would be no impact on supply, with Tungatinah one of 30 hydro stations statewide.
TasNetworks’ head of network operations Jason King said about 330 local customers lost power for 24 hours and were reconnected on Thursday night.
The neighbouring switching station was undamaged.
“As far as everyday Tasmanians, they won’t notice any difference at all,” King said.
Police said a single lane of the Lyell Highway reopened at 6pm on Thursday for light vehicles, but asked people to avoid the area, with delays expected over 24 to 48 hours.
