- local residents’ groups from around the Eraring site keen to maintain the environmental buffer the station’s assets provide and high standards of the environmental quality of the surrounding air and water,
- business and employment-focussed groups keen to ensure that a transition to new employment opportunities is provided when the station ceases firing coal in 2025,
- local and state government representatives looking to ensure synergistic solutions are found for the site and opportunities are developed,
- local scout stalwarts driven to protect the legacy of the scouting movement in the area,
- landcarers and community organisations within the Westlake corridor between Morisset to Toronto and
- Origin representatives with expertise in the stations’ operations, performance and environmental impact.
This group was recently provided with an opportunity to tour the site to get a better understanding of the scale of the operation and the extensive assets both physical and environmental. CPPA President, Suzanne Pritchard had a seat on the tour bus and this is what she saw.
There’s no doubt that the Eraring Power Station operation is big. It’s the biggest coal fired power station in Australia, providing a quarter of the country’s electricity from Queensland to Tasmania. Everything about it is big. The 200m high stacks that stamp the station’s presence in the landscape and beyond, the buildings that hold the barrels of balls that crush the coal to smithereens so it can be blown into a very fiery furnace and burnt. The mountain of coal that is reshaped and shovelled 24/7, enough to keep the lights on for 2-3 months if no more coal was added to the pile. What looked like a tonka toy-sized truck on this big black mountain when viewed from our vantage point as we approached the ash dam, turns out is the largest shovelling vehicle that is made.
The ash dam, which holds the by-product from the burnt coal that boils water to turn the turbines, has a convoy of carriers that truck it across the landscape and level it out. Layers of ash discharged and deposited since the station began operations in 1984.
There’s no doubt that the Eraring Power Station operation is big. It’s the biggest coal fired power station in Australia, providing a quarter of the country’s electricity from Queensland to Tasmania. Everything about it is big. The 200m high stacks that stamp the station’s presence in the landscape and beyond, the buildings that hold the barrels of balls that crush the coal to smithereens so it can be blown into a very fiery furnace and burnt. The mountain of coal that is reshaped and shovelled 24/7, enough to keep the lights on for 2-3 months if no more coal was added to the pile. What looked like a tonka toy-sized truck on this big black mountain when viewed from our vantage point as we approached the ash dam, turns out is the largest shovelling vehicle that is made.
The ash dam, which holds the by-product from the burnt coal that boils water to turn the turbines, has a convoy of carriers that truck it across the landscape and level it out. Layers of ash discharged and deposited since the station began operations in 1984.
The view from on top of the ash dam wall overlooked Myuna Bay. The now closed Sport and Recreation camp did look very small indeed and very vulnerable if a dam wall collapse was to happen. The worksite to install stone columns and the preparations for the buttressing to prevent such an event were underway.
The water-cooling system that diverts around 11 billion litres of salt water a day to cool the turbine turning steam is formidable and includes a 4 km canal that we criss-crossed on our tour. This fast-moving foamy torrent returns 99.9% of this water to the Lake. Watching it plunge down a swirling vortex to continue its 2 km underground journey out into Myuna Bay was quite a meditative experience and put a full stop on the tour of the scale of Eraring’s operations.
It will be prioritising projects that deliver an enduring community benefit and includes categories such as community well-being, community resilience, economic transition and diversification and environmental protection and outdoor amenity.
Applications need to be lodged by 18 June for the first round.
The Eraring Community Investment Fund
The Eraring Community Investment Fund has $5million to invest locally between 2023 and 2032 to support communities impacted by the future closure of Eraring Power Station.It will be prioritising projects that deliver an enduring community benefit and includes categories such as community well-being, community resilience, economic transition and diversification and environmental protection and outdoor amenity.
Applications need to be lodged by 18 June for the first round.
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