Repairs underway on Loy Yang Unit 2

loy yang, underwriting, latrobe valley
Loy Yang, Victoria. Image: Dorothy Chiron / Shutterstock.com

AGL has appointed GE Power to complete repairs on Unit 2 at its Loy Yang A Power Station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, hoping to get it back up and running by mid-December.

Last month, AGL confirmed an extended outage at the unit following an electrical short internal to the generator.

GE has been selected to complete the repair works following an extensive procurement process, involving multiple vendors.

It comes after recent news there was a massive explosion at Origin’s Mortlake Power Station in Victoria, which caused major damage to a gas generator.

With this taking up to six months to restore, and Unit 2 at Loy Yang A being out, concerns were raised over the state’s generation capacity over the summer period.

AGL executive general manager group operations Doug Jackson said ensuring the unit’s future reliability was a critical factor in selecting a vendor.

“We understand the importance of Loy Yang to Victoria’s electricity supply, GE is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and has the expertise and experience to complete this complex repair work,” Mr Jackson said.

“A detailed technical analysis on the generator has been completed and the repair will involve what’s known as a full rewind, which will see the replacement of the original coils and copper parts.

“This will deliver a proven design and engineered solution that meets AGL’s technical specification.

Related article: Unit outage at Loy Yang to hit AGL’s profits up to $100m

“The capital cost of the repair and upgrades at the station during the outage window will be $57 million. Most of the work will be done by local providers and is expected to create around 200 local jobs during the outage.

“The expected return to service date remains mid-December 2019 and we’re looking at other ways we may be able to increase generation from across our portfolio while these repairs take place.

“As the market operator, AEMO is responsible for managing system reliability and while there are no forecast shortfalls by this outage, we want to do everything we can to eliminate any impact of the outage on overall supply over this period.

“We have a range of options available due to AGL’s diverse and flexible portfolio that allows us to manage this outage well.”

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