The Gladstone Power Station is a

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

Callemondah Callemondah is a coastal suburb of Gladstone in the Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. It contains the Port of Gladstone. In the Callemondah had a population of 18 people. Geography The Calliope River forms the south-western boundary ...

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It is Queensland's largest power station, with six

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

powered

steam turbines A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

generating a maximum of 1,680 MW of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

. Power from the station was first generated in 1976. This

fossil fuel power plant A fossil fuel power station is a thermal power station which burns a fossil fuel, such as coal or natural gas, to produce electricity. Fossil fuel power stations have machinery to convert the heat energy of combustion into mechanical energy, wh ...

draws

seawater Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has appro ...

for cooling.

Black coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...

is brought by rail from the

Rolleston coal mine The Rolleston Coal Mine is an open-cut coal mine located in Central Queensland, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 600 million tonnes of thermal coal. The mine has an annual production capacity of 14 million tonnes run ...

, west of

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

History

Preliminary investigations into a new power station in

Central Queensland Central Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Capricorn Coas ...

began in 1968. The demand from expanding industry and the proximity to low cost

were the major reasons for locating a large

in the

area. The Gladstone Power Station was designed and constructed by the State Electricity Commission of Queensland. A 275 kV

transmission line In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. The term applies when the conductors are long enough that the wave nature of the transmis ...

connecting the power station to

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. T ...

was to be built as well. It initially consisted of four generating sets generating 275 MW each and was to cost A$198 million. The

Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

recognised the national importance of the power station, agreeing to contribute up to $80 million. A September 1975 report recommended the addition of two more generating units at Gladstone. This was approved by the Queensland Government in 1976. Contracts costing $81 million were placed for this expansion. The plant was privatised in 1994. It is currently owned by a group, including

Rio Tinto Aluminium Rio Tinto Aluminium (previously known as Comalco) is now known as Rio Tinto Alcan after Rio's takeover of Alcan. It was the world's eighth largest aluminium company. It mines and manufactures bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium. Rio Tinto Al ...

NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in energ ...

and other

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese partners.

Emissions

Carbon Monitoring for Action The Center for Global Development (CGD) is a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C., and London that focuses on international development. History It was founded in November 2001 by former senior U.S. official Edward W. Scott, direc ...

estimates this power station emits 11.80 million tonnes of

greenhouse gases A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), methane ...

each year as a result of burning

.Gladstone
Carbon Monitoring for Action. Retrieved on 23 November 2008

References

External links

Wesfarmers Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...

page o
Curragh mine
{{EnergyQueensland Coal-fired power stations in Queensland Gladstone, Queensland Power stations in Queensland Energy infrastructure completed in 1976 1976 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures in Central Queensland NRG Energy Rio Tinto (corporation)

History

Emissions

See also

References

External links