It was mentioned a year or so ago that a 20mt plant can produce 20 billion litres of water .... Below is a link thats been on here before saying that Loy Yang were looking at spending $100million for some water savings
It's not a big black snake and it's not a secret pipe for sending top-secret power station messages. In fact, the big black snake that meanders from the Unit Two cooling tower basin, alongside the road down to the mine and then disappears underground was a trial water saving device.
Senior Sustainability Manager Russell Centre said the "black snake" was an attempt to pump water back from the main drain in the cooling tower because the water there was of relatively good quality.
"Unfortunately it didn't work, but we're putting a lot of effort into investigating water saving initiatives. This particular pump back process picked up too much suspended material like dirt, coal and grass, for it to be considered successful" Russell said.
Loy Yang Power has established a Water Security Strategy Team (WSST*), of which Russell is a member, and will develop strategies and initiatives designed to manage Loy Yang Power's way through the current drought conditions.
Loy Yang Power's current water position is better than other Latrobe Valley generators; however Russell said the situation was still being monitored closely.
In 2006, Loy Yang Power used 23 gigalitres from its allocated catchment areas (Latrobe River and Blue Rock Dam), and 11 gigalitres from artesian supplies - a total of 34 gigalitres.
Twelve months ago, Blue Rock Dam was at 85 per cent capacity, and now it is at 62 per cent.
Low rainfalls over winter and spring last year meant Loy Yang Power ran into water troubles, because Blue Rock recorded the lowest ever inflows from the catchment.
The WSST is investigating ways to reduce the amount of water Loy Yang Power draws from Blue Rock Dam and the Latrobe River from 23 gigalitres to 15 gigalitres a year.
Russell said the WSST had implemented two short term strategies to achieve this.
"We've increasingly drawn from the artesian system in the mine and used the water as power station cooling water make-up. We're licensed to extract that water, so now we're pumping closer to our license limit. We're hoping to increase artesian water use from 11 gigalitres to 17 gigalitres a year," Russell said.
Artesian water is water trapped below the coal surface. When the coal is removed by mining, the water is not held under the same pressure and would break through the floor of the mine if not depressurised.
Russell said Loy Yang Power was also investigating a pump back system for site drainage which is usually discharged into the Traralgon Creek.
"The water discharged into the creek is from overburden run off and Loy Yang A and B general site run off. We will be able to pick up an extra five to six gigalitres a year if we reuse some of that water," Russell said.
A Flow Management Plan will be developed to maintain the storage capacity in the settling pond and the level will be varied and releases managed into the Traralgon Creek to maintain its health and flows.
The recycled run-off water will also be pumped back into the cooling water system as cooling water make-up.
In the long term, two of the main water saving options are partial dry cooling or desalination, both of which are incredibly expensive processes.
"Partial dry cooling, in which the water would pass through a system similar to a car radiator, would decrease evaporative loss, but it costs about $100 million to get a 30 per cent reduction in water loss," Russell said.
Options like partial dry cooling and desalination are being investigated and seriously considered as a part of Loy Yang Power's dedication to reducing its reliance on scarce catchment water.
"If we can get our catchment usage down from between 18 and 23 gigalitres a year to 15 gigalitres a year, it makes the business virtually drought proof," Russell said.
"The WSST has developed a strategy with viable solutions to ensure we don't run into water-related troubles and site employees will start to see evidence of these around the site in the coming months."
* Members of Loy Yang Power's WSST are Richard Elkington, Russell Center, Gerald May, Jonathon Dyson, Brad Michie, Russell Pentland, Gary Tatterson, Barry Dungey, Roland Davies and Robert Evans.
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