with the ARUP result due soon ,the construction of a facility of 1.5million output and potential to increase to WHAT ,OR HOW MANY plants will be required to meet the output of brown coal used by power operators, 30% effeciency using the coldry. $20 per ton as compared to under $8 as used by brown coal. cheap fuel but hopefully the Garnuat and RUDD government will change the playing field. enormous output of coal used by just the victorian operators , once the demonstation plant is operational as Kos mentioned 1500 others world wide in an environment that is receptive to change.
Victorian Power Generation - Current Brown Coal Generators
The Latrobe Valley Energy Industry operates four major power generating stations located adjacent to the rich brown coal (lignite) deposits of the Latrobe Valley. Loy Yang Power, International Power - Loy Yang B, International Power Hazelwood, and TRUenergy Yallourn. Together these stations supply in excess of 85% of Victoria's electricity needs. Energy Brix Australia also produces electricity for Victoria and briquettes.
Loy Yang The Loy Yang (external link) power station is the largest in Victoria and the open cut brown coal mine is the largest in Australia, with an annual output of approximately 30 million tonnes of coal. Located within the heart of the Latrobe Valley, 165km east of Melbourne, the Loy Yang Power site covers an area of about 6,000 hectares. Construction began at Loy Yang in 1977 with the first overburden (soil) removed from the mine in 1982.
Loy Yang Power provides enough electricity to supply one third of the State's electricity needs. The four turbo-generators at Loy Yang have a capacity of more than 500 megawatts of electricity, unit one being the largest at 580MW. Electricity generation at Loy Yang Power requires 60,000 tonnes of brown coal a day, supplied exclusively by Loy Yang mine.
Loy Yang Power also supplies coal to International Power’s (external link) Loy Yang B 1000 megawatt power station. Loy Yang Power is owned by GEAC (Great Energy Alliance Corporations), which comprises the Australian Gas Light Company (32.5%), Tokyo Electric Power Company (32.5%) and a group of investors led by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (35%).
Hazelwood Power Hazelwood Power Station (external link) comprises eight generating units normally rated at 200MW with a plant configuration of four two-unit stages. Total normal capacity is 1600MW. This integrated brown coal mine and power station complex is owned by International Power and is located 150km east of Melbourne, near the townships of Morwell and Churchill. The site commenced in 1964 and covers a total area of approximately 3554 hectares.
TRUenergy Yallourn The Yallourn Power Station is a 1,480 megawatt power station located 150km east of Melbourne in the Latrobe Valley that produces 22 percent of Victoria’s electricity and 8% nationally. Yallourn Power Station is owned by Hong-Kong based CLP Group (external link), and operates under the TRUenergy (external link) brand.
The power station’s four boilers each consume 600 tonnes of brown coal per hour and generate enough electricity to supply around two million homes.
Power generation at Yallourn dates from 1921 when a temporary station commenced operation. The first permanent power station was built in 1924 on the banks of the Latrobe River, just north of the existing power station. In 1996, the Yallourn power station and mine was the first Victorian Government owned power business to be privatised.
Energy Brix Australia Energy Brix Australia (external link) is a long established electricity generator located in Morwell, in the Latrobe Valley region, approximately 150km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is one of Australia’s largest co-generation manufacturing complex, producing both electricity and brown coal briquettes, and has the capacity to generate 170MW electricity.
Energy Brix Australia currently sources its raw brown coal from Yallourn and Loy Yang open cut mines, and its steaming coal from the Morwell open cut mine in the Latrobe Valley. Energy Brix Australia is 100% Australian owned and is a subsidiary of HRL Limited
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