Energy Security

[sptrawler]

That's getting beyond things I know about but the generating plant is listed as Toshiba.

For the boilers, units 1 & 2 are JT while 3 & 4 are ICAL.

They run at different pressure too. 1 & 2 are 12,800 kPa whilst 3&4 are 16,800 kPa.

Nominal unit ratings when commissioned were 350MW each for 1 & 2 and 375MW each for 3 & 4. In practice they run to about 360 and 380 respectively depending on coal quality.

Other differences are 1 & 2 each have their own cooling tower whilst 3 & 4 share a single cooling tower.

It's a bit of a technicality to say it's one station really. I'd be a bit more accurate to say its two stations, two units each, built right next to each other and given the same name. There are two stacks, two conveyors, etc and they were built as a separate project albeit one after the other.

Noting that other plant also historically operated at Yallourn during the period 1924 - 1989. That's now closed and completely demolished to ground level.

For those unfamiliar: JT = John Thompson. ICAL = International Combustion Australia Ltd. In layman's terms they're companies that manufacture boilers.

This photo, taken from the rear, shows it pretty clearly that it's really two stations next to each other. W station is in the background with the cooling towers, boilers for 3&4 on the left and 1&2 on the right. Old E and D stations (now demolished) in foreground at bottom of photo. Date would be shortly after completion of W station construction so about 40 years ago.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/CSIRO_ScienceImage_2650_Yallourn_Power_Station.jpg/694px-CSIRO_ScienceImage_2650_Yallourn_Power_Station.jpg

Well at least the bones of the station is soind, Toshiba's are nice units, units 7 and 8 at Muja are Toshiba's and have been great units.
Most of the boilers used at Kwinana and Muja were ICAL, simple construction and easily repaired, stage A Kwinana has Riley Dodd boilers which had refactory between the tubes that made repairs a fair bit slower. Muja stage A/B had Babcock and Brown, but they were a very old design and retired off years ago.
John Turner boilers weren't used anywhere in W.A's system to my knowledge.
But as you say @Smurf1976 everything has a use by date and the Yallourn units are getting old, same as Muja 6,7 and 8.
Nothing lasts forever and more and more is being asked of them, as alternative plant is retired.

 

[mullokintyre]

I could have posted this in a number of threads, but chose this one.
It could be in the Australian Bankruptcies, the Albanese government thread or the future of energy generation and storage.
They are all relevant to this discussion.
In another of those great ironical moments, the only surviving company that makes wind turbine towers has gone into administration.
Mick
From Evil Murdoch press

This comes after another wind tower company went the same way few months ago .
From Renew Economy

Australia’s largest integrated wind tower manufacturer – and sometime PV and wave energy dabbler – RPG Australia has gone into voluntary administration, a move that has taken many by surprise and will see more than 150 workers made redundant, effective immediately.

AAP reports that the board of the Queensland-based RPG Group – which is one of Australia’s largest heavy engineering companies, with a total of 310 staff in four manufacturing facilities which make – appointed administrators on Friday and decided to immediately close its plants at Dalby and Richlands in Queensland and Kilburn in South Australia, following a weekend review. The Australian reports that one worker in Melbourne was also made redundant, while operations at Wacol in Brisbane remain under review. The business – whose website appears to be down today – was advertised for “urgent sale” on Tuesday.