Mount Piper Power Station is a coal powered power station with two steam turbines with a combined generating capacity of 1,400 MW of electricity. It is located near Portland, in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia and owned by EnergyAustralia, a subsidiary of CLP Group. On 23 September 2021, it was announced that the closure of the power station is being brought forward from 2042 to 2040 at the latest. The power station employs 250 workers. In 2024, then leader of the opposition Peter Dutton said he intended, to build one of seven government-owned nuclear power plants on this site, to be operational by 2035–2037. Dutton's Coalition was subsequently defeated by a landslide.
Construction The first generator (Unit 2) was completed in 1992, and the second (Unit 1) in 1993. Units 3 and 4, although planned, were not built. It was the last power station built by the Electricity Commission of New South Wales (a body since abolished). Much of the design work done was undertaken in-house by the commission.
In 2009 Delta Electricity (the government owned enterprise that previously owned and managed the power station as a commercial entity) unofficially re-rated the units at Mount Piper from their original 660 MW to 700 MW.
In 2007 & early 2008 there was public talk of 'completing' the power station by using modern super-critical, dry-cooling tower, coal-fired units of up to 1000 MW capacity which uses much less water from surrounding rivers.
On 7 April 2010 the New South Wales Department of Planning announced that approval had been given to Delta Electricity to 'complete' the station by installing 2000 MW of new generating capacity. A 500 MW / 2,000 MWh grid battery is planned for the power station.
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 away. Large pumps draw water from the dam and pump it through a pipeline built between Thompsons Creek Dam and Mount Piper. Excess water that is unused by the power station is released 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 National Pollutant Inventory provides details of other pollutant emissions, but, as at 23 November 2008, not .
Operations Yearly generation (MWh) by unitYearTotalMP1MP2201110,242,1515,163,830Nem Log 5,078,321Nem Log 20128,776,5933,942,534Nem Log 4,834,059Nem Log 20139,854,1465,340,532Nem Log 4,513,614Nem Log 20148,239,9504,187,273Nem Log 4,052,677Nem Log 20155,467,4552,796,720Nem Log 2,670,735Nem Log 20167,749,2573,372,276Nem Log 4,376,981Nem Log 20177,344,0754,189,078Nem Log 3,154,997Nem Log 20188,715,6533,835,639Nem Log 4,880,014Nem Log 20194,691,5062,423,968Nem Log 2,267,538Nem Log 20206,769,3043,005,181Nem Log 3,764,123Nem Log 20217,185,3153,870,977Nem Log 3,314,338Nem Log
See also
Wallerawang Power Station
References
External links Delta Electricity page on Mount Piper