Liddell Power Station
{{#badges: CoalSwarm|Navbar-Australiacoal}}Liddell power station is a 2,000-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in New South Wales, Australia.
AGL plans to close the plant in 2022 as it reaches more than 50 years of operation. In September 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the Federal Government is trying to delay the closure of the plant for at least five years.[1]
Contents
Location
The map below shows the location of the plant, near Muswellbrook, New South Wales.
Background on Plant
The Liddell Power Station was commissioned between 1971 and 1973 and generates 2,000 megawatts from four 500MW generating units. Water is supplied from Lake Liddell. The power station consumes approximately 5.5 million tonnes of black coal per year.[2]
Ownership
Liddell Power Station was owned by Macquarie Generation, a government-owned business which was established in 1996 and boasts that it is "Australia's largest electricity generator."[3] Macquarie Generation was acquired by AGL Energy in September 2014.[4]
High Costs of Keeping Plant Open
In November 2017, a report by the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures found that a clean energy package that includes battery storage, solar thermal and bioenergy would cost $2.2 billion, compared to $3.6 billion for a package to extend the life of the Liddell plant. The study also found that Clean Energy would have "would have a zero pollution outcome compared to 40 million tonnes of pollution by extending Liddell."[5]
Plant Details
- Sponsor: AGL Energy Ltd
- Parent company: AGL Energy
- Location: Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia
- Coordinates: -32.3715996, 150.9784213 (exact)
- Status: Operating
- Gross capacity: 2,000 MW (Units 1-4: 500 MW)
- Type: Subcritical
- In service: 1971-73
- Coal type:
- Coal source:
- Source of financing:
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ "Malcolm Turnbull in talks with AGL to keep Liddell coal power station operating beyond 2022," ABC, Sep 6, 2017
- ↑ Macquarie Generation, "Liddell power station", Macquarie Generation website, accessed May 2011.
- ↑ Macquarie Generation, "Welcome", Macquarie Generation website, accessed May 2011.
- ↑ "AGL completes acquisition of Macquarie Generation assets", 2 September 2014
- ↑ Report suggests it's cheaper to close Liddell coal-fired power station, www.news.com.au, 20 Nov 2017.
