Key Takeaways
- Rachel Watson has been appointed as the new CEO of Hydro Tasmania, becoming the first woman to lead the organisation.
- Watson brings extensive experience from roles at Pacific Hydro and Clean Energy Council, and will oversee efforts to enhance renewable energy and infrastructure in Tasmania.
- Hydro Tasmania faces pressures to develop backup power sources amid challenges in hydro generation and is expanding into solar energy projects.
Hydro Tasmania has concluded its months-long hunt for a new CEO, with the announcement that former Pacific Hydro chief and Clean Energy Council chair Rachel Watson will take up the role in April of next year.
The Tasmania government-owned utility said on Tuesday that Watson, who is currently the country manager for the Australian arm of global renewables developer OX2, will become the first woman to hold the CEO role at the “complex” company, and will head up an executive team with a majority of women.
“Rachel is known in the energy industry as a dynamic and passionate leader with a strong focus on the commercial and cultural aspects of business,” said Hydro Tasmania chair Richard Bolt.
“She has the breadth and depth of experience to lead the sophisticated and complex operations of Hydro Tasmania, enable the growth of renewables and industrial load, and firm Tasmania’s power from upgraded and new hydropower and pumped storage stations.”
The new appointment to the helm of the government-owned utility – which owns and operates the bulk of Tasmania’s hydroelectric assets, as well as retailer Momentum Energy and consultancy Entura – marks the third changing of the guard since 2020, when Evangelista Albertini stepped in to replace longtime CEO Steve Davy.
Albertini resigned from the role just one year later in September of 2021, citing personal reasons, and Ian Brooksbank stepped in as interim CEO before being permanently appointed to the role in July 2022. Brooksbank announced his own retirement in March of this year, and stepped down in October.
“Throughout my career in Australia’s energy industry I have never witnessed such a rapid rate of disruption and change as we are experiencing at the moment,” Brooksbank said at the time of his appointment.
For its part in the energy transition, Tasmania – which gets the vast majority of its electricity from hydropower – has centred around major grid infrastructure upgrades, including to accommodate more wind farms and the addition of a new undersea cable to the mainland called Marinus Link.
For Hydro Tasmania, the pressure is on to develop back-up power sources beyond fossil gas. In June, the utility powered up its Tamar Valley gas fired generators for the first time in five years, after an extended dry period put pressure on its hydro resources.
According to analysts at GPE NEMLog, the share of hydro generation in Tasmania’s grid fell to a record low of 9.9 per cent in August, a combination of preserving the depleted hydro resources and because of maintenance at some key facilities.
To this end, Hydro Tasmania earlier this month signed an off-take arrangement for what will be the first large scale solar farm in the island state, built on the property of the one of the island’s most famous grazing properties.
The deal for the 288 MW, $500 million Northern Midlands solar project, on the Connorville Estates near Cressy, is being built by TasRex, which is bringing in investment manager Birdwood Energy to help the company develop, fund and deliver solar farm.
“Rachel will lead Hydro Tasmania through one of its most important periods of change,” Bolt said on Tuesday. “I am very pleased that a leader of her talent and integrity has chosen to join us.”
Watson, who will not be making any detailed comments on the new role until its official start on April 14, said on Tuesday that she looks forward to making Tasmania her home and building on Hydro Tasmania’s big vision for the future.
“I am honoured and delighted to take up this role,” Watson said.
“There are very exciting opportunities and challenges ahead and I am really looking forward to working on Hydro Tasmania’s ambitious agenda, together with the Hydro Tasmania team.”
Watson was appointed to the position of country manager for OX2 Australia (formerly ESCO Pacific) in July 2023. OX2 had not provided a statement on her departure from the role, or on her replacement, at the time of publication.
In an emailed statement to Renew Economy, an OX2 spokesperson said “a search for replacement of Rachel Watson is well progressed and we are confident that the ambitious journey OX2 is on in Australia will continue without interruptions.”
Hydro Tasmania’s executive general manager of strategy, Erin van Maanen has been acting CEO since Ian Brooksbank’s retirement in October.
