Lake Cethana

Lake Cethana is a Hydro Tasmania lake near Moina in north west Tasmania. It is one of the Hydro Tasmania storages on the River Forth and directly upstream from Lake Barrington. Cethana Power Station was opened in 1971, and is one of only a few underground hydro stations in the state. It has one Francis turbine with a generating capacity of 85 MW of electricity. The station is run by the waters of Lake Cethana.



Part of the Mersey–Forth scheme that comprises seven hydroelectric power stations, the Cethana Power Station is the fifth station in the scheme. The power station is located underground and is supplied with water from Lake Cethana, the Wilmot Power Station located below Lake Gairdner, and uncontrolled flow from the Forth River. Water from the station is returned to the Forth River through a tailrace tunnel which has a tailrace gate structure at the outlet portal.



The power station was commissioned in 1971 by the Hydro Electric Corporation (TAS) and the station has one Fuji Francis turbine, with a generating capacity of 100 megawatts (130,000 hp) of electricity. The station output, estimated to be 434 gigawatt-hours (1,560 TJ) annually, is fed to the outdoor switchyard via a three single-phase 13.8 kV/220 kV Fuji generator transformer.

A walk to Lake Cethana starts at the junction just before the turning to Lemonthyme Lodge on Dolcoath Road near Moina. This is good walk to observe all the varieties of vegetation of the area. After crossing two areas of cleared land the track crosses a fern gully, beyond which there is more forest until the track finally terminates in the back water of the lake. This walk is graded as hard because the return trip is a long haul back uphill. Duration: 2 hours. For more details of the walk, contact Lemonthyme Lodge: Ph (03) 6492 1112

Lake Cethana's deep waters have been stocked with plump trout. You can launch your boat here and spend the day fishing, or enjoy a picnic or barbecue on the shore.

Where Is it?: Access is from the road that comes off the C138 before the township of Lorinna. Nearby Moina is an hour's drive south west of Devonport (55 kilometres).