Loy Yang Coal Power Station
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Loy Yang Coal Power Station is a brown coal fired power station located on the outskirts of the city of Traralgon, in south eastern Victoria, Australia. Loy Yang is a base load supply station, and produces about one third of Victoria's electricity requirements. Loy Yang A has four generating units with a combined capacity of 2200 megawatts and is owned by GEAC, a consortium made up of AGL Limited, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Transfield Services and three superannuation funds. Loy Yang B has two units with a capacity of 1050 megawatts is Victoria's newest and most efficient power station generating around 17% of Victoria's energy needs. It is owned by UK group International Power.
Loy Yang B employs up to 152 full time staff and another 40 contractors.
Loy Yang Coal Power Station 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 525 Megawatts each upon completion. The privatisation of the SECV resulted in only six generating units being completed, four in Loy Yang A and two in Loy Yang B. The Loy Yang complex was privatised in 1995, as were most of the assets of the SECV. Prior to the Victorian State Government's privatisations from the mid-1990s, a 49% stake 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.
Four giant bucket-wheel excavators, called dredgers, operate 24 hours a day in the Loy Yang open cut mine, mostly feeding coal directly to the boilers via conveyor belt, 18 hours of reserve supply is held in a 70,000 tonne coal bunker. Each year approximately 30 million tonnes of coal are extracted from the open pit. The open cut coal mine pit is about 200 m (660 ft) deep, 3 km (1.9 mi) and 2 km (1.2 mi) wide at its widest. It is estimated that at current rates of extraction there are sufficient deposits of coal in the entire Latrobe Valley region to last 1300 years.
Carbon Monitoring for Action estimates this coal power station emits 14.40 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year as a result of burning coal. On September 3rd 2007 the Loy Yang complex was the target of climate change activists. The activists locked themselves to conveyor belts and reduced power production for several hours before being cut free. Four people were arrested.
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 Australia for the supply of electricity to power aluminium smelters at Portland and Point Henry until 2036.| Loy Yang Power Station | |
|---|---|
| Country |  Australia |
| Locale | Victoria |
| Coordinates | 38°15′16″S 146°34′37″E / 38.25444°S 146.57694°ECoordinates: 38°15′16″S 146°34′37″E / 38.25444°S 146.57694°E |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | 1980s |
| Power station information | |
| Primary fuel | Coal |
| Power generation information | |
| Installed capacity | 4 × 525MW (Loy Yang A) 2 × 525MW (Loy Yang B) |
