The Meander Valley Council has continued to raise direct questions to Hydro Tasmania about the need for cloud seeding in the wake of June's disastrous floods.
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In its September meeting, general manager Martin Gill said he met with representatives from Hydro Tasmania earlier that month and was referred to Hydro's own inquiry that the operation had no impact on rainfall of the day.
Mr Gill contacted Hydro with a series of questions and said the organisation offered to speak to council at a future workshop.
He said he believed there were a number of matters Hydro could not yet respond due to the announcement of an independent flood inquiry.
The questions were:
- Given the weather forecast, why did Hydro Tasmania proceed with cloud seeding over the Western Tiers?
- How do Hydro Tasmania plan to better manage Tasmania’s water storages to reduce the reliance on cloud seeding?
- What are Hydro Tasmania’s current policies on the “export” of power in relation to low limit levels in water storages?
- Although no further cloud seeding is proposed for the remainder of the current “season”, what communication can Tasmanians expect for future cloud seeding operations?
Fairfax Tasmania posed these questions to Hydro Tasmania and was told by a spokesperson that:
“We’re in the early stages of consultation, and plan to have further discussions.”
They said the cloud seeding program remained on hold while Hydro reviewed the program.
“The cloud seeding operation on 5 June targeted hydro storages in the Upper Derwent catchment (including Lake Echo), and took account of current flood warnings and the Bureau of Meteorology’s forecasts. There were no flood warnings in place in the Upper Derwent or Great Lake catchments.”
“Tasmania’s future energy balance, including storage management issues, are matters for the Energy Security Taskforce to consider.”
“While the taskforce considers these matters, Hydro Tasmania is applying additional conservatism to storage management.”