Eraring Power Station is a

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 ...

-fired power station consisting of four 720 MW

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...

steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

driven turbo-

alternator An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature.Go ...

s for a combined capacity of 2,880 MW. The station is located near the township of

Dora Creek Dora River is a watercourse that is located in the Upper Central Coast/ Lower Hunter regions of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Dora Creek River rises below Watagan Mountains west of Martinsville, and flows generally southeas ...

, on the western shore of

Lake Macquarie, New South Wales Lake Macquarie (Awabakal: ''Awaba'') is Australia's largest coastal salt water lake. Located in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, it covers an area of and is connected to the Tasman Sea by a short channel. Most of the residents of the City ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and is owned and operated by

Origin Energy Origin Energy an ASX listed public company with headquarters in Sydney. It is a major integrated electricity generator, and electricity and natural gas retailer. It operates Australia’s largest coal-fired power station at Lake Macquarie, New ...

. It is Australia's largest power station. The plant has two smokestacks rising 200 m (656 ft) in height. It is slated for closure by mid-2025.

History and facilities

Construction of the power station began in 1977. The first turbo-alternator was brought online in 1982, with the second and third in 1983, and the fourth in 1984. The generating capacity of each of the four turbines was upgraded from 660 MW to 720 MW between 2011 and 2012. The process of upgrading the control room to a fully digital system was completed in 2005.

Salt water Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...

from Lake Macquarie is used for cooling and is supplied through a concrete tunnel which passes under Dora Creek and up to the station via open canal. Reclaimed

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

water from the Dora Creek Waste Water Treatment Works is heavily purified and used to generate steam for the turbines as opposed to using municipal potable water supplies. The salt water helps in the cooling of the superheated steam as well as moderation of the temperature of outlet water to minimise

thermal pollution Thermal pollution, sometimes called "thermal enrichment", is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature. Thermal pollution is the rise or fall in the temperature of a natural body of water caused by hum ...

. The

comes from five mines in the local area, delivered by conveyor, rail and private road. There is significant coal storage capacity on site. Eraring power station employs the Fabric Filter system of dust collection, in which particulate emissions resulting from coal combustion are captured as opposed to being released into the atmosphere. Some of this material is stored in an area nearby while some is taken and used as a component of road base. From 2009 to 2013 the Eraring power station has been equipped with Dry Bottom Ash Handling Systems (the MAC - Magaldi Ash Cooler) at all four units. Electricity generated at the station is transmitted through high voltage

transmission lines 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 ...

. Turbines 1 and 2 are connected to a 330kV transmission line while turbines 3 and 4 are connected to a 500kV transmission line. It is scheduled to close by 2025. It will close seven years sooner than expected, owing to its operator's inability to cope with the "influx of renewables."

Fire

At 2.16 am on Friday 28 October 2011 unit 2B generator transformer exploded with the transformer oil catching fire. The oil fire burnt for approximately two days and the estimated repair cost was A$20 million.

Fire and Rescue NSW Fire and Rescue New South Wales (previously known as New South Wales Fire Brigades), an government agency, agency of the Government of New South Wales, Australia, is responsible for firefighting, rescue and hazardous material, HazMat services i ...

, assisted by the

New South Wales Rural Fire Service The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) is a volunteer-based firefighting agency and statutory body of the Government of New South Wales. The NSW RFS is responsible for fire protection to approximately 95% of the land area of New South ...

controlled the initial incident with subsequent investigations by

NSW Police The New South Wales Police Force (NSW Police Force; previously the New South Wales Police Service and New South Wales Police) is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Divided into Police Area Commands (P ...

, the

Office of Environment & Heritage The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), a former division of the Government of New South Wales between April 2011 and July 2019, was responsible for the care and protection of the environment and heritage, which includes ...

and WorkCover NSW.

Pollution

As of 2017, The power station has had allegations made against it, regarding the exceedance of NSW

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...

standards. The EPA reported

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

emissions of 1.3 kg, and has begun investigating the alleged under reporting of self collected emission data.

Operations

The generation table use
eljmkt nemlog
to obtain generation values for each year. Records date back to 2011.

References

External links

Eraring Energy Eraring Energy was an electricity generation company in Australia that was owned by the Government of New South Wales, and had a portfolio of generating sites using thermal coal, wind, and hydroelectric power. It was sold to Origin Energy i ...