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Education |
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Brown Coal &
LaTrobe Valley |
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When World War I ended,
there were several small companies producing electricity in the Melbourne
area, burning coal from NSW. However, current standards did not exist at the
time; some operators produced alternating current, some direct, with several
different phases and voltages. Due to
increasing demand from industry, farmers, residents, and the electrification
of the suburban railways, the small generating companies soon reached their
operational capacity. It became imperative for the Victorian government to
find a means of best using the vast reserves of brown coal in the LaTrobe
Valley.
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As a consequence of the
Electricity Commissioners Act of 1919, three men - George Swinburne,
Archibald McKinstry, and Thomas Rankin Lyle (chairman) were appointed to the
new Electricity Commission. The Commission approached Sir John Monash,
Commander of the Australian Imperial forces in Europe and professional
engineer, for assistance with gathering information about how Germany mined
and utilised its brown coal.
Sir John Monash sent men to Germany to collect
the necessary information. This information enabled the Electricity
Commission to plan a rudimentary mining scheme and late in 1920, the early
stages of mining commenced at Yallourn.
In 1921, the Electricity Commissioners
became the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, with Sir John Monash as
chairman and general manager. |
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An experimental power
station was built at Yallourn. Because the moisture content of Yallourn coal
was higher than that of Yallourn North, there would be problems burning it
and modifications would need to be made to the boiler house plans. However
by late 1923, the experimental plant was supplying electricity to local
LaTrobe Valley townships by using Yallourn North coal. And, by mid 1924, the
main 50 kW power station began supplying power using a mixture of Yallourn
and Yallourn North coal. |
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By 1929, after a decade
of progress, the SEC's generating stations now aggregated 154,400 kW, enough
to meet supply requirements for up to two years ahead. 325 km of underground
cable (mostly for Melbourne's distribution system), along with 2500
kilometres of high-tension transmission lines, had been erected throughout
Victoria. The SEC supplied nearly all of metropolitan Melbourne, as well as
141 country towns and centres. By
1939, the SEC was supplying 4,376 farms with electricity, compared with 411
farms in 1929. However, World War II placed urgent demands for fuel and
power; demand rose 70% during the war. Because of reduced availability of
black coal from both NSW and overseas, Victoria had to assist industry and
other states who relied upon NSW coal. |
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In 1944 a devastating
bushfire spread to the Yallourn open cut; this caused further restrictions
upon the use of coal. For example, homeowners were only permitted to buy
coal for the purpose of heating water.
Black coal was no longer available to Victoria
in 1949, which meant the SEC could not retain its full production of
briquettes. This caused restrictions on the use of electricity to be
implemented, which were not lifted until 1953. After initial problems with
financing, the Morwell power and fuel project got underway. Priority was
given to power generation over briquette production. The project was
completed in 1960. |
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Over the years,
additions were made to the original Yallourn Power Station to increase its
generating capacity. However, demand was growing and so a new power station,
Hazelwood, was proposed to join the grid in 1964. It was originally
envisaged as a 1200 megawatt complex but ultimately contained eight 200 MW
units.
In 1968, work began on the new Yallourn W power station, while the decision
was made to close the aging Yallourn A power station. Yallourn W's first
unit was completed in 1973, and the last of its four units was put into
operation in November 1981. Yallourn W has a generating capacity of 1450 MW.
The SEC announced plans for the giant Loy
Yang Power Station project in December 1973. This was to contain four 500 MW
units. Production began at the Loy Yang open-cut mine in October 1982 and
the Loy Yang A Power Station was officially opened in September 1984.
Meanwhile, in 1978, the first 50 MW unit at
the new Jeeralang Gas Turbine station underwent initial trials.
Future production centred on Loy Yang. In
August 1985 Loy Yang B was approved by the state government and construction
began on its two 500 MW units. However, in an attempt to reduce debt, a
decision was made by the state government to privatise power stations. Loy
Yang B was the first to be partially sold and was officially opened in 1993,
under the flagship of new owner Mission Energy.
Subsequently Yallourn, Hazelwood, and Loy
Yang were privatised. Each of these companies now sells electricity to the
National Electricity Market. The distribution of energy has also been
privatised. The five companies involved are United Energy, TRUenergy,
Powercor, Citipower, and AGL Electricity |
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