Mount Piper Power Station

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

Construction

The first generator (Unit 2) was completed in 1992, and the second (Unit 1) in 1993. Units 3 and 4, although planned, were never built. In 2007 & early 2008 there has been talk of 'completing' the power station but using modern super-critical, dry-cooling tower, coal-fired units of up to 1000MW capacity which uses much less water from surrounding rivers. As of February 2008 there has been no official notification or development approval given.

It was the last power station built by the Electricity Commission of New South Wales (Elcom). Much of the design work done was undertaken in-house by the Commission.

In 2007 Delta Electricity re-rated the units at Mount Piper from their original 660MW to 700MW.

Technical

Mount Piper draws its cooling water from Lyell Dam and Thomsons Creek Dam, both purpose built for the station. Lyell Dam is located on the Coxs River 20 km away. Large pumps draw water from the dam and transfer it to a pipeline built between Thompsons Creek Dam and Mount Piper. The power station taking what water it needs and the excess flowing into Thompsons Creek Dam. When no pumps are in service the water supply to the power station is gravity fed from Thompsons Creek Dam.

Carbon Monitoring for Action estimates this power station emits 9.08 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year as a result of burning coal. The Australian Government has announced the introduction of a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme commencing in 2010 to help combat climate change. It is expected to impact on emissions from power stations. The National Pollutant Inventory provides details of other pollutant emissions, but, as at 23 November 2008, not CO2.

External links

• Delta Electricity page on Mount Piper