Hydropower

Hydropower generation will utilise AIC’s existing infrastructure to produce renewable energy.

When AIC’s pipe network was constructed in 2017, pipe was oversized at three sites in anticipation of future hydropower generation. We are currently developing two of those sites for hydropower generation with a combined maximum possible output of 3MW. In a typical year, irrigation water is only required for a 200-day season and on average farms are only using water on 100 of those days. Dual use of this infrastructure for hydropower and irrigation generates renewable energy which can be sold back into the grid. Increasing renewable energy generation will assist in meeting national climate change objectives, and hydropower generation will provide an additional revenue stream as a valuable secondary use for our infrastructure, offering a hedge against future energy price increases.