Loy Yang Power Station, Victoria
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The Loy Yang Power Station is a
brown coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...
- fired
thermal power station A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy is converted to electrical energy. In a steam-generating cycle heat is used to boil water in a large pressure vessel to produce high-pressure steam, which drives a stea ...
located on the outskirts of the city of
Traralgon Traralgon ( ) is a town located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia and the most populous city of the City of Latrobe. The urban population of Traralgon at the was 26,907. It is the largest and fastes ...
, in south-eastern
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
, Australia. It consists of two sections, known as Loy Yang A (4 units) and Loy Yang B (2 units). Both Loy Yang A and B are supplied by the Loy Yang brown coal mine. The Loy Yang power stations are located in the brown coal rich
Latrobe Valley The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical district and urban area of the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria, Australia. The traditional owners are the Brayakaulung of the Gunai nation. The district lies east of Melbourne and nes ...
, along with the
Yallourn power station The Yallourn Power Station, now owned by EnergyAustralia a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hong-Kong-based CLP Group, is located in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia, beside the Latrobe River, with the company town of Yallourn located to ...
. If Loy Yang A and Loy Yang B are counted together they are the largest power station in Australia, generating 3280 MW of power (however, if counted separately, the 2,880 MW
Eraring power station Eraring Power Station is a coal-fired power station consisting of four 720 MW Toshiba steam driven turbo-alternators for a combined capacity of 2,880 MW. The station is located near the township of Dora Creek, on the western shore of Lake Macq ...
is the largest). Loy Yang A & B are base load power stations, and together produce 50% of Victoria's electricity requirements. Loy Yang also serves as the mainland connection point for the
Basslink The Basslink () electricity interconnector is a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable linking the electricity grids of the states of Victoria and Tasmania in Australia, crossing Bass Strait, connecting the Loy Yang Power Station, Victoria on ...
electricity interconnector cable which runs under Bass Strait, connecting it to the George Town sub-station in Northern Tasmania.


Technical Features

All six Loy Yang boilers are of the forced circulation tower type and are made by International Combustion Australia Ltd. Steam is supplied at a pressure of 16 MPa and a temperature of 540 °C.


Loy Yang A

Loy Yang A has four generating units with a combined capacity of , which have been completed between 1984 and 1988. Loy Yang A consists of three units with Kraftwerk Union alternators (units 1, 3 and 4) and one unit by Brown Boveri Corp (unit 2) that was supposed to be the second unit at the gas-fired Newport power station. Later during the 2000s the turbine/generator couplings were upgraded on the 3 Kraftwerk Union units to allow an increase in MCR to 560 MW. Loy Yang A is the mainland connection point for the
Basslink The Basslink () electricity interconnector is a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable linking the electricity grids of the states of Victoria and Tasmania in Australia, crossing Bass Strait, connecting the Loy Yang Power Station, Victoria on ...
electricity interconnector cable.


Loy Yang B

Loy Yang B has two units with a capacity of which entered service in 1993 and 1996. The two units have Hitachi turbo generators. Loy Yang B employs up to 152 full-time staff and another 40 contractors. It is Victoria's newest and most efficient brown coal-fired power station and can generate approximately 17% of Victoria's power needs.


Fuel supply

Four giant
bucket-wheel excavator A bucket-wheel excavator (BWE) is a large heavy equipment machine used in surface mining. The primary function of BWEs is ...
s, called dredgers, operate 24 hours a day in the Loy Yang
open cut mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...
, mostly feeding coal directly to the boilers via conveyor belt, 18 hours of reserve supply is held in a coal bunker. Each year approximately of coal are extracted from the open pit. The open cut coal mine pit is about deep, and wide at its widest. The current mining licence has been extended by the Victorian Government up to the year 2065.


History

The squatter James Rintoul established a stock run at the place where Sheepwash Creek meets the Latrobe River, which he named "Loy Yang". Loy Yang facility 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 each upon completion. The privatization of the SECV resulted in only six generating units being completed, four in Loy Yang A and two in Loy Yang B. The chimneys were constructed by Thiess Contractors. The Loy Yang complex was privatised in 1995, as were most of the assets of the SECV. Prior to the
Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...
's privatisations from the mid-1990s, a 51% 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. 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 Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals is a joint venture between Alumina Limited (40% share) and Alcoa (60% share) and is abbreviated to AWAC. AWAC's business is the mining of bauxite, the extraction of alumina ( aluminium oxide) and the smelting of al ...
Australia for the supply of electricity to power aluminium smelters at Portland and Point Henry until 2036. The Point Henry Smelter ceased operation in 2014 and is now closed. In June 2012 AGL Energy acquired Loy Yang A and the Loy Yang coal mine. In June 2012 AGL Energy acquired Loy Yang A and the Loy Yang coal mine. In 2020, AGL announced plans to build a 200 MW / 800 MWh (4 hours)
battery storage power station A battery storage power station is a type of energy storage power station that uses a group of batteries to store electrical energy. Battery storage is the fastest responding dispatchable source of power on electric grids, and it is used to stab ...
at Loy Yang A to increase flexibility. Until November 2017, Loy Yang B was jointly owned by
Engie Engie SA is a French multinational utility company, headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie, which operates in the fields of energy transition, electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear, renewable energy and petroleum. It ...
(formerly GDF Suez Australia), which held a 70% stake, and
Mitsui & Co is one of the largest ''sogo shosha'' (general trading companies) in Japan; it is part of the Mitsui Group. History The company was established in 1876 with 16 members including the founder, Takashi Masuda. As Japan's international trading w ...
Ltd with 30%. In November 2017, Engie sold Loy Yang B to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises for a reported AU$1.2 billion, despite some reported that it was acquired by Chow Tai Fook Enterprises' subsidiary
Alinta Energy Alinta Energy is an Australian electricity generating and gas retailing private company owned by Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE). It was sold for $4 billion and was approved Treasurer Scott Morrison in 2017. Alinta Energy has an ...
instead.


Greenhouse gas 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 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
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 ...
. On 3 September 2007 the Loy Yang complex was the target of
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
activists. The activists locked themselves to conveyor belts and reduced power production for several hours before being cut free. Four people were arrested. On 23 September 2021
Environment Victoria Environment Victoria, formerly the Conservation Council of Victoria, is an Australian not-for-profit, charitable group and Victoria's peak non-government environment organisation. It works in collaboration with over 150 groups Australia-wide to p ...
took legal action against AGL Energy, which owns Loy Yang A (and also EnergyAustralia, owner of Yallourn power station, and Alinta at Loy Yang B) for failure to manage climate pollution, in a case that was the first to test the Victorian government’s climate change laws.


Engineering heritage award

The power station received an Engineering Heritage Marker from
Engineers Australia Engineers Australia (EA) is an Australian professional body and not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineering for the benefit of the community. Engineers Australia is Australia's recognized org ...
as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.


Future

In September 2022, AGL announced that Loy Yang A would close in 2035. Alinta Energy, the owner of Loy Yang B, has announced an intention to operate it until 2047. However, the state government has announced a target that 95% of Victoria's electricity will be generated by renewable energy by 2035. It would be impossible to meet this target if Loy Yang B continued to operate in its present form. The Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, has stated that it is unlikely to operate to the previously announced closure date.


Gallery

File:Loy_Yang_open_cut_brown_coal_mine_and_dredgers.jpg, Two large dredges working coal face, and smaller unit on the mine floor. File:Loy Yang A power station.jpg, Loy Yang A. File:Loy Yang B power station.jpg, Loy Yang B.


See also

*
List of power stations in Victoria The following page lists all active and former power stations in Victoria, Australia. Power stations smaller than in nameplate capacity are not listed. Loy Yang is the largest Power Station by capacity in Victoria. Currently active Coal f ...
* State Electricity Commission of Victoria


References


External links


Loy Yang Power

International Power

Australian Energy Market Operator Participant Registration List
{{Mines in Victoria Coal-fired power stations in Victoria (Australia) 1985 establishments in Australia Traralgon Energy infrastructure completed in 1985 Recipients of Engineers Australia engineering heritage markers