The Devils Gate Dam is a concrete double-arch dam across the Forth River, located near , in northern Tasmania, Australia. Completed in 1969, the resultant reservoir, Lake Barrington, was established for the purpose of generation of hydroelectricity via the adjacent Devils Gate Power Station, a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station.
The dam, its reservoir, and the power station are owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
Dam and reservoir overview The concrete dam wall is high and long. When full, Lake Rosebery has capacity of and covers , drawn from a catchment area of . The uncontrolled spillway has a flow capacity of . It is one of the thinnest concrete arch dams in the world.
The dam received a Historic Engineering Marker from Engineers Australia as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.
Reservoir
The reservoir's foreshore is protected by the Tasmanian Government as a natural recreation area.
Lake Barrington is a world-standard rowing course. It hosted the 1990 World Rowing Championships and several Australian Rowing Championships in 1984, 1987,1987 Cadbury Kings Cup and National Rowing Championships: Lake Barrington International, Tasmania 1–5 April, Tasmania : Tasmanian Rowing Council 1990,Winter, Ian (1990) Blades down under: the official record of the world rowing championships 1990, Lake Barrington, Tasmania, Australia Tasmania : Amherst Educational in association with Key Publications, Hagan, J. and Patterson, Ed (1991) Oars aweigh: assessing the impact of the 1990 World Rowing Championships on Tasmania. Hobart, Tas. Dept. of Tourism, Sport and Recreation, prepared under the auspices of the Australian Sport and Recreation Facilities Advisory Committee (AUSFAC)" 1994, 1997, 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2021. The reservoir is also a location for the annual Tasmanian schools Head of the River rowing regatta.
Two water ski clubs are based at Lake Barrington; the Kentish Aquatic Club and the Horsehead Water Ski Club.
Hydroelectric power station
The Devils Gate Power Station is part of the MerseyForth scheme that comprises seven run-of-the-river hydroelectric power stations and one mini-hydro power station. The seventh station in the scheme, the Devils Gate Power Station is located below the dam wall. Water from Barrington Lake is fed to the power station by a single penstock tunnel.
The power station was commissioned in 1969 by the Hydro Electric Corporation and has one Boving Fracis-type turbine, with a generating capacity of . The station output, estimated to be annually, is fed to TasNetworks' transmission grid via an 11 kV/110 kV Siemens generator transformer to the outdoor switchyard.
See also
List of power stations in Tasmania List of reservoirs and dams in Tasmania List of locations and events of the Australian Rowing Championships List of run-of-the-river hydroelectric power stations
References
External links