Uranquinty Power Station Visit

Wednesday 15th February 2012

Uranquinty Gas-Fired Power Station

Present: Marilyn, Maureen, Liz, Jo, Carol, Anne, Michelle, Heather, Jan, Lisa, and Donna

Q. What has no taste, no smell and can’t be seen yet makes lives easier? (not a joke just amazing)
A. Electricity

Our morning at the Uranquinty Gas-fired Power Station was extremely informative. Our host, Lisa Glastonbury, is very dedicated to her job, and very committed to the ethics and the belief in green energy that Origin Energy, who own and operate the power station, aspires to and is working towards.

Location, location! The site was chosen because of the location of proximity to:
1. A national power grid (owned by TransGrid) –a high voltage network connecting generators, distributors and major end users in New South Wales. Electricity is generated at the Uranquinty power stations then transmitted “across the fence” into the TransGrid network of high voltage transmission lines and underground cables to substations such as the one at Gregadoo. From the substations the electricity goes to homes, factories and businesses by electricity distributors such as Essential Energy. Electricity continues “to be lost” as the distance from the power station to the grid is increased.
2. The gas pipeline. Natural gas is the energy source and is piped in under pressure

The Uranquinty plant is a peaking plant and only operates at times of peak demand over winter and summer, and usually mornings and evenings. The plant is fully computerised and can be brought into operation ‘at the flick of a switch’, even from off-sight. There are four gas turbine generators but the four have rarely been operated at any one time. When it does operate at full capacity, the Uranquinty Power Station generates 640 megawatts of power and can provide power for 880,000 homes along the east coast of Australia.

Electricity is traded on a daily basis with traders such as Origin, AGL, Snowy Hydro and Delta selling power to bidders such as Essential Energy.

The power station employs 12 permanent employees who are fully employed even when the plant is not operating – including the daily safety walk around the site and continuous safety and maintenance checks. The staff is proud of clocking up 1000 consecutive days of being accident free.

Origin aims to minimise environmental impact, and so, the Uranquinty Power Station recycles all waste water produced. The recycled water is used on site to water the thousands of trees planted around the 50 acre perimeter fence and also around the larger buffer zone area of about 1000+ acres.

We enjoyed the day so much that it was thought that our 2013 trip be based around the Cullerin Range Wind Power Station.