Loy Yang Power Station

Loy Yang Power Station
280px Loy Yang B (left), Loy Yang A (centre), coal bunkers from open cut mine (right).
Location of the Loy Yang Power Station in Victoria, Australia
Country	Australia
Location	Traralgon, Victoria
Coordinates
Status	Operational
Commission date	1985
Owner(s)	A: AGL Energy B: GDF SUEZ Aust. 70%; Mitsui 30%
Thermal power station
Primary fuel	Brown coal
Power generation
Units operational	A: 4 × 525 MW (704,000 hp) B: 2 × 525 MW (704,000 hp)
Make and model	BBC Siemens Hitachi
Nameplate capacity	3,300 MW (4,400,000 hp)

The Loy Yang Power Station is a brown coal–fired thermal power station located on the outskirts of the city of Traralgon, in south eastern Victoria, Australia and is the largest power station in Australia, generating power of well over 3,000 MW (4,000,000 hp) in capacity. Loy Yang is a base load supply station, and produces about one third of Victoria's electricity requirements.

Loy Yang A has four generating units with a combined capacity of 2,200 MW (3,000,000 hp) and is owned by AGL Energy.

Loy Yang B has two units with a capacity of 1,050 MW (1,410,000 hp) and is Victoria's newest and most efficient brown coal-fired power station generating around 17% of Victoria's energy needs. It is owned by GDF SUEZ Australian Energy (70 per cent) and Mitsui & Co Ltd (30 per cent). Loy Yang B employs up to 152 full-time staff and another 40 contractors.

History

File:LaTrobe Valley CFPS.png

A map of the major towns and coal-fired power stations in the Latrobe Valley.

Loy Yang was originally constructed through the 1980s by International Combustion Australia Ltd, who was contracted by the government owned State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV). It consists of two separate units, Loy Yang A and Loy Yang B. Constructed in stages, it was originally planned that the Loy Yang complex would consist of eight generating units, of 525 megawatts (704,000 hp) each upon completion.The privatization of the SECV resulted in only six generating units being completed, four in Loy A and two in Loy Yang B. Loy yang 'A' consists of 3 units with Siemens alternators(1,3+4) and one unit by Brown Boveri Corp(2) that was supposed to be the second unit at Newport D. The two units at Loy Yang 'B" have Hitachi turbo generators. All six boilers are of the forced circulation tower type and are made by International Combustion Australia Ltd. Steam is supplied at a pressure of 16MPa and a temperature of 540degC.

The Loy Yang complex was privatised in 1995, as were most of the assets of the SECV. Prior to the Victorian Government's privatisations from the mid-1990s, a 49% stake of Loy Yang B was sold to Mission Energy. Later Edison Mission bought the complete plant, and later again sold it to the joint venture International Power Mitsui.

In 1995, Loy Yang B was the world's first coal-fired power station to gain quality accreditation to ISO 9001 and the first Australian power station to gain environmental accreditation to ISO 14001.

Four giant bucket-wheel excavators, called dredgers, operate 24 hours a day in the Loy Yang open cut mine, mostly feeding coal directly to the boilers via conveyor belt, 18 hours of reserve supply is held in a 70,000 tonnes (69,000 long tons) coal bunker. Each year approximately 30 million tonnes (30×10^⁶ long tons) of coal are extracted from the open pit. The open cut coal mine pit is about 200 metres (660 ft) deep, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) and 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide at its widest. It is estimated that at current rates of extraction there are sufficient deposits of coal in the entire Latrobe Valley region to last 1300 years.

Carbon Monitoring for Action estimates this power station emits 14.4 million tonnes (14.2×10^⁶ long tons) of greenhouse gases each year as a result of burning coal. On 3 September 2007 the Loy Yang complex was the target of climate change activists. The activists locked themselves to conveyor belts and reduced power production for several hours before being cut free. Four people were arrested.

In March 2010 it was announced that the operators of Loy Yang A (Loy Yang Power) signed a contract with Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals Australia for the supply of electricity to power aluminium smelters at Portland and Point Henry until 2036.

Gallery

• 

  Two large dredges working coal face, and smaller unit on the mine floor.

• 

  Loy Yang A.

• Loy Yang B power station.jpg

  Loy Yang B.

See also

• List of power stations in Victoria
• State Electricity Commission of Victoria

External links

• Loy Yang Power
• International Power