#IHA30 Is the hydropower sector ready for the next 30 years?
As part of IHA’s 30th anniversary campaign, we’re celebrating how the global hydropower community is building a lasting legacy for future generations. In this article, we speak with Tammy Chu, Interim Executive General Manager for Construction at Hydro Tasmania – one of IHA’s longest-standing members – to explore our shared roots and how the sector is preparing to meet the challenges and responsibilities ahead.
“Accelerating the global clean energy transition is the most important legacy we can leave today’s communities, future generations, and this planet we all share,” Tammy says. “But it must not come at the cost of communities and environment.”
This is a principle that underpins much of Tammy’s work at Hydro Tasmania and previously as Managing Director of Entura, Hydro Tasmania’s consulting business, and it reflects a growing consensus in the hydropower sector that sustainability is a non-negotiable cornerstone of the transition.
For nearly a decade, Tammy has served on the IHA Board, including tenures as Vice-President and Chair of the Governance and Finance Committee. Through this platform, she has helped advance global collaboration and knowledge-sharing on sustainable hydropower development.
This continues a long history of collaboration between IHA and Hydro Tasmania, who co-wrote the sector’s first Sustainability Guidelines in 2004 with another member, Hydro-Québec. This work paved the way for what is now the Hydropower Sustainability Standard, and represents a landmark milestone of the last three decades.
“I want to help bring about a hydropower future that is informed by best practice and sustainability principles, so that developments bring long-term benefits to their communities and environments – and IHA has shown great leadership in this,” Tammy says.
A changing energy landscape, and hydropower’s evolving role
Reflecting on the last three decades, Tammy points to the rapid rise of variable renewables, and a crucial shift in how hydropower’s role is perceived in modern energy systems. “It’s exciting to see that wind, solar and hydropower aren’t being seen as competitors, but as complementary technologies,” she says.
In Australia, that shift is driving renewed investment. Hydro Tasmania and Entura are playing key roles in new long-duration storage, including the landmark Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project in Queensland and planning for a 750MW pumped hydro scheme in Tasmania. “Australia is on the cusp of a hydro renaissance,” she says. “Pumped hydro is being proposed and announced all across the country.”
Entura’s work is also expanding internationally, including a major pumped hydro screening program in India. “We’ve identified many promising opportunities to support India’s clean energy transition through new pumped hydro projects,” Tammy notes. Solutions like these can deliver critical flexibility and system stability in high-renewable grids, as governments seek to accelerate the clean energy transition.
Meanwhile, opportunities are emerging to repurpose and modernise hydropower assets. Schemes built a century ago are now reaching key decision points, and many can be redeveloped to extend their value and relevance in the changing energy landscape.
“I’m currently overseeing construction works that will support a potential redevelopment of an 85+ year old Tasmanian hydropower scheme, adding more capacity and flexibility to enable it to better meet growing demand in Tasmania and the changing needs of the electricity market,” says Tammy.
Sustainability and long-term value
As the energy transition accelerates, the value of hydropower lies not only in clean generation and grid services, but in its capacity to deliver broader social and environmental benefits.
“In Tasmania, with our exceptional natural values and wild places, the environmental and social impacts of developing hydropower schemes have received intense scrutiny over the decades,” says Tammy. “Hydro Tasmania has worked hard to become a leader in sustainability and takes its role very seriously as a responsible custodian of water and biodiversity, and a key part of local communities for generations.”
Hydro Tasmania and Entura are signatories to IHA initiatives such as the San José Declaration on Sustainable Hydropower and the Bali Statement on Powering Sustainable Growth.
“This is a focus Entura brings to all of our hydropower projects, wherever in the world they’re located,” says Tammy. "A challenge for us all, now, is to extend our sustainability focus to encompass the supply chain and take what action we can to ensure that sustainability is a priority from ‘cradle to grave’ – for example, right from extraction to manufacturing of materials through to decommissioning, recycling and the promotion of the circular economy.”
Preparing for the next generation of challenges
Looking ahead to the next 30 years, Tammy sees a mix of challenges and opportunities for the global hydropower sector.
Among the most urgent is the need to understand and adapt to climate variability. “A lot of work will be needed to carefully investigate, understand and manage future uncertainty in rainfall, runoff and water resources,” she explains. “The hydropower sector will need robust strategies to respond to climate change uncertainties and to maximise potential for drought mitigation and flood protection.”
But perhaps most pressing of all is the need to grow and diversify the hydropower workforce.
“Developing a skilled workforce, people that are ready to take up the jobs of the future, is a make-or-break factor for the clean energy transition,” she says. “Hydropower will be competing for talent with other renewables such as wind and solar.”
At the 2023 World Hydropower Congress in Bali, Tammy facilitated a panel on the future of the workforce. “One of the factors we discussed was the need to maximise women’s participation in the sector so that our industry can access the widest possible pool of talent,” she explains.
“I strongly recommend that everyone in our sector reads Power with Full Force: Getting to Gender Equality in the Hydropower Sector, released by the World Bank. It’s a powerful study of these issues, and, for me particularly, a strong reminder that the conditions we might take for granted in countries like Australia, such as paid parental leave and anti-discrimination laws, are not enjoyed by all women in the global hydropower sector, particularly in developing countries.”
Investing in future leaders
For those entering the hydropower sector today, Tammy offers a mix of encouragement, realism and practical advice.
“Back yourself and chase your dreams,” she says. “You’re stepping into an exciting industry with enormous potential to make a better future.”
She encourages young professionals to build strong networks and seek out mentors.
“Join professional associations and seek out leadership courses. I had some great mentors who encouraged me to take opportunities that I may not otherwise have had the self-belief or confidence to grasp.”
And when opportunities arise, she says, be ready to act.
“Say yes and work the rest out later. Otherwise, someone else will step up and the opportunity will be gone.”
A collective legacy
As the hydropower sector marks 30 years of global collaboration through IHA, Tammy remains clear-sighted about what it will take to deliver on the promises of the next 30.
“Ultimately, IHA can play a leadership role as part of a broad coalition across the sector, developing a vision for addressing these challenges, promoting structural supports, and showcasing examples of leading practice.”
With renewed focus on sustainability, inclusion and shared responsibility, the global hydropower community stands ready to shape a just and lasting energy transition that will benefit communities and ecosystems for decades to come.
