Inside Melbourne's secret suburban hydro power system

From the outside, it looks like a green shipping container on an industrial block in the suburbs. But on the inside, there's plenty going on.

Melbourne water senior project manager Ian
 Royston at a new ''mini-hydro'' plant in Dandenong North.

The box is part of a little-known but growing Melbourne Water network of "mini-hydro" electric plants generating electricity in suburban Melbourne, and in the hills beyond.

With the addition of Melbourne Water's 14th hydroelectric plant, a "mini-hydro" to be turned on on Thursday in Mt Waverley, Melbourne Water's hydroelectric system generates enough power to supply more than 14,100 homes. Eleven of the plants are "mini-hydro" plants.

It's a system that the water company hopes to expand further.

Read Darren Gran’s story on the Melbourne Age - “Inside Melbourne's secret suburban hydro power system.”