Update from the Eraring Energy Community Forum

The following notes are from the Forum, which the CPPA attends.

As you may recall the Ash Dam stabilisation was the trigger that closed the Myuna Bay Sport and Rec camp.

From the minutes

5. Ash Dam Stabilization Works

• Phase 1 of Ash Dam Stabilization works was reported to be complete, specifically the buttressing phase.
• It was noted that this is a major milestone as the project now meets the required factor of safety.
• DS NSW Audit has been successfully completed, confirming compliance.

6. Proposed Acquisition of Origin

• An update on the proposed acquisition of Origin was presented, including:
• ACCC approval status.
• Distribution of the scheme booklet.
• Announcement of a shareholder meeting scheduled for 23 November 2023.
• The transfer is set to be completed by 18 December with no expected change to operations.

An update on the update about the acquisition from the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH)10/10/23: “Australia’s competition watchdog has approved the takeover of the nation’s biggest energy retailer Origin Energy by Canadian fund giant Brookfield and its consortium partner MidOcean, but the $18.7 billion deal still needs the backing of large shareholders who think the bid undervalues the company.

An update from SMH on 4/12/23 “Australia’s largest super fund and other shareholders of Origin Energy have dealt a fatal blow to Brookfield and EIG after 13 months of corporate drama, rejecting a multibillion-dollar bid by the consortium to break up and privatise Australia’s largest energy provider.”

Tour around Eraring Power Station & Investment fund applications open

The CPPA has recently regained a seat on the reinstated Eraring Power Station Community Forum. The Forum group consists of 

• 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.

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.

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.

An update from The Eraring Power Station Community Forum

The Eraring Power Station Community Forum reconvened on 3rd May for the second meeting this year. It was eye opening to see the amount of activity that is being proposed to meet the August 2025 exit from coal-fired power generation.

There were several reports presented at the forum.

An overview of the proposed multinational purchase of Origin was given. A “Binding Scheme Implementation Deed” has been signed and support gained from the Origin Board to progress with the sale. The new owners bring significant investment funds - $20billion, -which will also support Origin’s fast tracking of renewable energy projects.

An update on progress towards the 80% coal ash recycling goal was presented. New interstate markets for coal ash are being explored and uses such as engineered filling of mine voids and road construction are being investigated. A need to invest in plant machinery to optimise extraction was identified.

The trial of stone columns to stabilise the Ash Dam wall was explained and deemed a viable solution to improve the dam safety to comply with the Dam Safety Act of 2019. The design works are 75% complete.

An overview of the Eraring Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) was provided. The BESS will provide 460MW charge/discharge for 2 hours.

A high-level overview of the Eraring Power Station Transition Road Map to meet the August 2025 coal-closure was presented. This process must negotiate a complex operations transition around closure processes, maintenance, and community needs. A detailed baseline understanding is being developed, identifying features of the site within a regulatory, technical, and repurposing context.

• Defining the opportunities for the coal closure-transition is still an active process. Yet to be determined is a vision for the site, identification of opportunities, any risks and their mitigation and any trade-offs. The next forum meeting will include a brainstorming session for possible uses of the site.
• Once potential uses and opportunities are identified, detailed planning of business cases, investment and environmental and engineering planning will be undertaken.
• The final stage of the Transition process will be the decommissioning of coal-fired power generation and rehabilitation and repurposing of the site for future use by Origin.

More information on Eraring's website about the current projects.

The minutes of the Eraring Power Station Consultative Committee also provide some detail of the various projects

Burgeoning Battery Power

There’s a local boon in battery power happening.

Eraring is Australia’s largest power station supplying around a quarter of NSW’s energy needs and is Origin Energy’s only coal-fired generator.  

Origin has reached an important milestone in its plans to develop a large-scale battery at Eraring Power Station, receiving planning approval from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment (DPE).  

 

The proposed Eraring battery has an overall capacity of up to 700 MW and a dispatch duration of 4 hours, making it Australia’s largest battery project to achieve planning approval to date.  

There is also  a proposed Awaba Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), a 50MW stand-alone battery to be located adjacent to Ausgrid's Awaba Substation on Awaba Road.

Once operational, the Awaba BESS will provide a range of electricity and power market services - supporting Firm Power's mission to power the clean energy transition.

The Awaba BESS forms part of the Hunter Dispatchable Energy System (HDES) - a distributed stand-alone battery system for the Hunter region, designed to balance the grid and support the performance and future uptake of renewable energy in NSW.  View a Fact Sheet of the Awaba BESS project.

Firm Power are currently preparing  a socio-economic impact assessment (SEIA) for the BESS in Awaba. As part of this process, they are conducting a community survey to better understand community values, challenges and aspirations as well as potential impacts and benefits associated with the proposal.

The community survey is an opportunity for you to let them know:

• about your local area,

• what is important to you,

• any concerns you may have, 

• your views on project benefits.

You can find out more about the project at Awaba BESS | Firm Power, and take the community survey at Awaba Battery Energy Storage System Survey.

Climate Action on Our Doorstep

Just 14 km away is Eraring Power Station (EPS), owned and operated by Origin Energy. EPS has four 720 megawatt (MW) coal fired units, and one 42MW diesel fuelled gas turbine.

Eraring is Australia’s largest power station with a generating capacity of 2922MW, and accounts for approximately 25 percent of New South Wales’ power requirements.

In January 2021, Origin announced plans to progress the development of a major grid scale battery at Eraring.

This battery has a potential peak generation output of 700 MW. If it goes ahead it will be one of the largest battery projects (in terms of both peak power output and energy duration) in NSW and Australia.

Large-scale batteries can in theory be placed anywhere along the electricity grid. However, to take advantage of the infrastructure already in place and reduce the cost of the energy produced, Origin is looking at installing large-scale battery technology at many of their existing power stations, including the a 700MW battery project at the Eraring Power station.

Interestingly, a large-scale battery located next to a power station is not powered by the power station. Large-scale batteries operate independently, are connected to the grid and can continue to operate when the power station is not running or even after it may have been retired from service. Origin has committed to exiting coal-fired generation by 2032 and we anticipate that the capacity at Eraring will be replaced by a combination of renewables, battery storage and gas peaking power stations.

This was an excerpt from https://www.originenergy.com.au/blog/how-large-scale-batteries-support-renewables/