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John Butters Power Station
Location of John Butters Power Station in Tasmania
Country	Australia
Location	Western Tasmania
Coordinates	42°09′21″S 145°32′04″E / 42.15583°S 145.53444°E / -42.15583; 145.53444
Purpose	Power
Status	Operational
Opening date	1991 (1991)
Owner(s)	Hydro Tasmania
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Embankment dam
Impounds	King River
Height	83 metres (272 ft)
Length	245 metres (804 ft)
Width (crest)	300 millimetres (12 in)
Dam volume	770×10^ m (27×10^ cu ft)
Spillways	1
Spillway type	Controlled and uncontrolled
Spillway capacity	245 m/s (8,700 cu ft/s) chute on dam face 190 m/s (6,700 cu ft/s) valve in tunnel
Reservoir
Creates	Lake Burbury
Total capacity	1,081,420 ML (38,190×10^ cu ft)
Active capacity	1,065,000 ML (37,600×10^ cu ft)
Catchment area	559 km (216 sq mi)
Surface area	53,250×10^ m (573.2×10^ sq ft)
John Butters Power Station
Operator(s)	Hydro Tasmania
Commission date	1992 (1992)
Type	Conventional
Hydraulic head	184 metres (604 ft)
Turbines	1 x 144 MW (193,000 hp) Fuji Francis turbine
Installed capacity	144 megawatts (193,000 hp)
Capacity factor	0.9
Annual generation	576 gigawatt-hours (2,070 TJ)
Website hydro.com.au/energy/our-power-stations/king-yolande

The John Butters Power Station is a conventional hydroelectric power station located in Western Tasmania, Australia. The power station forms part of the King – Yolande River Power Scheme and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.

Technical details

Part of the King – Yolande scheme that comprises three hydroelectric power stations, the John Butters Power Station is fed by water from Lake Burbury which is dammed by the Crotty Dam in the gap in the West Coast Range between Mount Jukes and Mount Huxley, and to the south by Darwin Dam. Water flow to the station is via a long headrace tunnel from the Crotty Dam via a 6.5-kilometre (4.0 mi)-long headrace tunnel and a 500-metre (1,600 ft)-long steel lined power tunnel.

The power station was commissioned in 1992 by the Hydro-Electric Corporation, one of the last power stations constructed before its disaggregation and transformation to Hydro Tasmania. The station has one Fuji Francis turbines with a generating capacity of 144 megawatts (193,000 hp) of electricity. Within the station building, the turbine has a half embedded spiral casing controlled via a spherical rotary inlet valve and a vertical lift, gravity closed intake gate designed to cut off full flow. The station output, estimated to be 576 gigawatt-hours (2,070 TJ) annually, is fed to TasNetworks' transmission grid via a 13.8 kV/220 kV three-phase Fuji generator transformer to the outdoor switchyard.

The station is remotely controlled from the Sheffield Control Centre.

Etymology

The power station was named in honour of John Butters, the first general manager and chief engineer of Hydro Tasmania.

When the King power scheme was approved by the Tasmanian Government the name on hydro plans for the proposed power station at that time was the Newall Power station.

See also

• List of power stations in Tasmania

References

1. ^ "Register of Large Dams in Australia". Dams information. Australian National Committee on Large Dams. 2010. Archived from the original (Excel (requires download)) on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
2. "King - Yolande". Energy: Our power stations. Hydro Tasmania. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
3. ^ "John Butters Power Station: Technical fact sheet" (PDF). King - Yolande Catchment. Hydro Tasmania. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
4. ^ Lupton, Roger (1999). Lifeblood: Tasmania's hydro power. Focus Publications. ISBN 978-1-875359-33-2.
5. King River Power Development. Hydro Tasmania. pp. 11 and 13.
6. Felton, Heather; Hydro Tasmania (2008), Ticklebelly tales and other stories from the people of the Hydro, Hydro Tasmania, pp. 16–17, ISBN 978-0-646-47724-4
7. The naming of the Newall in the locality can be seen from the map provided in Tasmania. Hydro-Electric Commission (1992), King River power development, The Commission, retrieved 10 June 2018 - pages 8 and 9, Lake Burbury being an extract from TASMAP Franklin 1: 100 000: There is a Newall Spur off Mount Jukes, 3 km south east of the power station, as well as Newall Creek, and a former mining site Harris' Reward on Newall Creek - see p.40 of How, Duncan (1992), Historic mines of Western Tasmania : a walking guide, Walk the West Publications, ISBN 978-0-646-10651-9
8. "Crotty Dam, Tasmania" (PDF). Submission for historic engineering marker. Engineers Australia. September 2000.

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