Duck Reach power station push

While discussions are in the early stages a group of private local investors are interested in seeing the turbines of the historic station spin again and have already approached the council.

Aldermen will vote on Tuesday whether to pursue a council-led redevelopment of Duck Reach, which is inin Cataract Gorge and was decommissioned in 1955.

Last year, Hydro Tasmania began investigating a working Duck Reach offset revenue losses after it voluntarily increased water flows down the Gorge in December.

Australia's largest water manager decided not to proceed with the project after funding a feasibility study looking at several options.

These ranged from a $4 million project delivering enough electricity to power 1000 Launceston homes to a $5.48 million project which could light up 2500 households.

On these estimates, the council-owned site could generate $680,000 to $932,000 a year in revenue based on selling power back to the grid at 17 a kilowatt hour. This was almost twice the price Hydro believed it could sell the electricity for.

The council believes it could also trade any renewable energy credits the project attracted to polluters looking to offset emissions after the carbon tax is introduced in July.

Driving the project is the council's wish to preserve Duck Reach as a heritage attraction and generate income.

Any commercial redevelopment would only require about one-third of the space at the station, leaving the rest for a heritage project.

Duck Reach regeneration committee chairman Shane Dennington said it was currently underutilised and had potential to be a key tourist heritage attraction.

``When it powered up the lights of town in 1895, they basically had a street party - the first city in the world to be lit by hydro electricity,'' he said.

``It ticks every box.''