While Hydro Tasmania appreciates the appeal of taking drone footage of our land and assets, we need to consider the following issues: 

• potential for damage to equipment or loss of electricity supply caused by drones being operated in proximity of electrical infrastructure
• environmental disturbance
• privacy concerns to other land users
• potential loss of control of drone due to localised wind effects caused by dams and other infrastructure.

For these reasons recreational use of drones in or over Hydro Tasmania’s land and assets is not advised. 

All proposed drone use for commercial filming or to support media, scientific, management or education purposes requires approval from Hydro Tasmania, and an application form must be submitted at least 14 days prior to your requested date of filming. Please note that drone use requests for aerial asset inspection, aerial surveying and similar operations may take longer to process and should be submitted as early as possible.

All drone use is subject to a 30 meter exclusion zone in all directions from dam walls and buildings, and 50 meter exclusion zone in all directions from substations or power stations.

Operators of drones under 2kg must register their details with CASA  before any use, and follow required standard operating conditions.

All operators of drones over 2kg are required to be CASA certified and provide the following documentation to Hydro Tasmania:

• CASA issued RPA operators certificate (ReOC) (drones over 2kg)
• CASA issued remote pilot license (RePL) for each proposed operator (drones over 2kg)
• Flight plan that demonstrates operators will not enter any of Hydro Tasmanians pre-determined exclusion zones. 
• Aviation specific public liability insurance certificate
• Flight risk assessment
• Pedestrian management plan with the proposed pedestrian exclusion zone illustrated (30m and so on, depending on the operator’s license)

Any drone operators found to be operating without Hydro Tasmania approval, or not in accordance with issued approval, will be requested to stop and all details will be provided to CASA for further action.

Queries about general drone use should be directed to CASA or phone 131 757.