Loy Yang B turbine project approved

Alinta's Loy Yang B power station against bright blue sky (alinta)
Alinta's Loy Yang B power station

Engie has announced its turbine upgrade project at the Loy Yang B power station has been given the green light by the Environment Protection Authority.

The EPA has granted “works approval” to upgrade turbines at the plant, which will result in the burning of an extra 400,000 tonnes of coal each year.

“The approved project will see the retrofit of two turbines with a higher efficiency design to improve the station’s thermal efficiency and increase operating flexibility,” Engie said in a statement.

Members of the Engie Loy Yang B management team provided Latrobe Valley community members with an update on the power station Turbine Retrofit Project at a community consultation session in October.

In a statement released at the time, Loy Yang B Asset manager, Tony Hicks, said the session was a valuable forum to not only explain the project, but was also an opportunity to provide an overview of the environmental assessments that have been undertaken as part of the regulator’s Works Approval Application.

“This is a significant project –­­­­ in fact one of the most significant proposed to be undertaken since the plant started operating in 1993,” Mr Hicks said.

“Meeting with members of the community to present an update on the project and provide them with an opportunity to hear and ask questions of a senior atmospheric scientist, who presented independent air modeling assessments, is a valuable sharing exercise.

“We have been working closely with the regulator, the EPA, for over 12 months on advancing our application, and have provided supporting documentation and research which has modelled the impact of the additional coal usage and emissions to air on the region’s air quality.”

The works will occur in 2019 and 2020 during planned major outages.

Loy Yang B provides about 17 per cent of Victoria’s energy needs.

Previous articleEnergy Queensland gives refugees a helping hand
Next articleEntura to help Marshall Islands reach renewable energy target