A 30 metre long, 5 metre diameter Robbins tunnel boring machine had excavated the 800 metre headrace access tunnel and 5,700 metre main headrace tunnel. The tunnel filling process was completed through the cooling water offtake at McKay Creek, measuring approximately 200 litres per second to provide a buffer of water up against the plug prior to the main fill commencing.
Water had been directed into the waterway from the McKay Creek Power Station turbines, and the filling will be controlled so that 20 metre head will be added per hour.
The filling works had been completed ahead of schedule, allowing project proponent AGL to meet their schedule for the first rotation of the 70MW Unit 1 turbine.
The fourth and final link in the Bogong Hydro Power Project, the Bogong Power Development Project is expected to be commissioned in late 2009, and will add another 140 MW to the existing 241 MW generating capacity of the Kiewa Valley Hydroelectric Scheme.