| Wallerawang Power Station | |
| Coordinates: | -33.4039°N 150.0844°W |
| Country: | Australia |
| Location: | Wallerawang, New South Wales |
| Status: | Decommissioned |
| Commissioned: | (A) (B) (C) |
| Decommissioned: | (A) (B) (C) |
| Owner: | EnergyAustralia |
| Th Fuel Primary: | Thermal coal |
| Ps Units Operational: | 2 |
| Ps Units Manu Model: | CA Parsons and Company |
| Website: | at www.energyaustralia.com.au |
Wallerawang Power Station was a thermal coal power station, located near Wallerawang, in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The power station was equipped with two turbo-alternators of each, supplied by CA Parsons and Company of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. Production commenced in May 1957.[1]
In July 2013, EnergyAustralia acquired Wallerawang Power Station, along with Mount Piper Power Station, from Delta Electricity for $160 million.[2] 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.[3] EnergyAustralia began the process of removing useful equipment from the station in 2015.[4] [5] The plant was finally demolished in 2021 using controlled demolition.[6]
Wallerawang A – originally built with four British Thomson-Houston 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 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.[7]
Wallerawang C — comprised two units were completed in 1976 and 1980. Due to dwindling energy demand, in January 2013 the NSW government-owned corporation, Delta Electricity, mothballed one of the two remaining units of Wallerawang C for twelve months.[8] [9] The other was also mothballed 15 months later.[10]
The coal 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.
Wallerawang Power Station drew its cooling water from Lake Wallace and Thompson's Creek dam, fresh water lakes on the Coxs River. Water from Lake Lyell and mine dewatering projects can also supply water in times of shortage.[11] 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 available from the Oberon Dam, a water cooling source for Wallerawang Power Station.[12] [13]
A report from Carbon Monitoring for Action estimated that the Wallerawang Power Station emitted approximately 6500000t of CO2 each year as a result of burning coal.[14] 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 to introduce the cap and trade system was defeated on the floor of the Parliament. The subsequent was enacted and established an emissions trading scheme 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:
| Pollutant identified | Levels of pollutant | Location(s) of pollutant | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–2012[15] | 2010–2011[16] | ||||
| Air | |||||
| Water | |||||
| Air | |||||
| Chlorine and compounds | Air | ||||
| Water | |||||
| Air | |||||
| Lead and compounds | Air | ||||
| Mercury and compounds | Air | ||||
| Air | |||||
| Air | |||||
| Zinc and compounds | Air | ||||