Wallerawang Power Station was a thermal coal

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 ...

, located near Wallerawang, in the Central Tablelands region of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. The power station was equipped with two turbo-alternators of each, supplied by CA Parsons and Company of

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, England. Production commenced in May 1957. In July 2013,

EnergyAustralia EnergyAustralia (formerly TRUenergy) is an electricity generation, electricity and gas retailing private company in Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based and listed China Light and Power (CLP Group). EnergyAustralia also ...

acquired Wallerawang Power Station, along with

Mount Piper Power Station Mount Piper Power Station is a coal powered power station with two steam turbines with a combined generating capacity of 1,400 MW of electricity. It is located near Portland, in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia and owned by Energ ...

, from

Delta Electricity Delta Electricity is an electricity generation company in Australia. The company was formed by the Government of New South Wales in 1996 as part of its reform of the electricity sector in the State, which saw the breakup of the Electricity Commi ...

for $160 million. Due to dwindling demand, the first of the two generating units had been mothballed in January 2013, and the second in April 2014. In November 2014, EnergyAustralia announced that it would permanently close Wallerawang due to ongoing reduced energy demand, lack of access to competitively priced coal and the power station's high operating costs. EnergyAustralia began the process of removing useful equipment from the station in 2015. The plant was finally demolished in 2021 using controlled demolition.

Features and capacity

''Wallerawang A'' – originally built with four

British Thomson-Houston British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England, and founded as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (GE) of Schenectady, New York, United States. They were kno ...

single cylinder generators, completed in 1957–1959. Steam was supplied to each generator by a John Thompson 'Etaflow' boiler at a rate of at and . Wallerawang A was decommissioned in May 1986. ''Wallerawang B'' – comprised two

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...

2–cylinder turbines with hydrogen cooled generators completed in 1961. Steam was supplied to each generator by a John Thompson boiler at a rate of at and . Wallerawang B was decommissioned in 1990. ''Wallerawang C'' — comprised two units were completed in 1976 and 1980. Due to dwindling energy demand, in January 2013 the NSW

government-owned corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

, mothballed one of the two remaining units of Wallerawang C for twelve months. The other was also mothballed 15 months later. The

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 ...

for Wallerawang Power Station came from mines in the local area, delivered by private road. 75% of the coal comes from the Centennial Coal-owned Angus Place

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

. Wallerawang Power Station drew its cooling water from Lake Wallace and Thompson's Creek dam, fresh water lakes on the

Coxs River The Coxs River, a perennial river that is part of the Hawkesbury- Nepean catchment, is located in the Central Tablelands, Blue Mountains, and Macarthur regions of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features The Coxs River rises in Gard ...

. Water from Lake Lyell and mine dewatering projects can also supply water in times of shortage. In 2007 and in 2009, water shortages occurred in the Fish River system, causing concern that the generating facility would be forced to close. Oberon Shire was also concerned about the level of

potable water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, ...

available from the Oberon Dam, a water cooling source for Wallerawang Power Station.

Pollutants

A report from

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, dire ...

estimated that the Wallerawang Power Station emitted approximately of CO₂ each year as a result of burning coal. The Rudd government announced the introduction of a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme to help combat climate change that was expected to commence in 2010, however a

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pla ...

to introduce the

cap and trade system Emission trading (ETS) for carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHG) is a form of carbon pricing; also known as cap and trade (CAT) or carbon pricing. It is an approach to limit climate change by creating a market with limited ...

was defeated on the floor of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. The subsequent was enacted and established an

emissions trading scheme Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants. The concept is also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS). Carbon emission t ...

to price carbon in Australia in a regulated manner between from 2012 to June 2015. The carbon pricing scheme was discontinued by new federal government officials in 2014. It was expected that these measures would have impacted on emissions from power stations. Wallerawang Power Station has emitted the following selected list of pollutants:

References

{{Authority control Coal-fired power stations in New South Wales Central Tablelands Energy infrastructure completed in 1957 1957 establishments in Australia Demolished buildings and structures in New South Wales Buildings and structures demolished in 2021 Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion

Features and capacity

Pollutants

See also

References