Delta Electricity Limited Prepares for Maintenance Outage at Mount Piper Power Station

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Perth, Australia)--Delta Electricity (Sydney, Australia), which owns and operates the 1,320-megawatt (MW) Mount Piper Power Station, recently completed maintenance work on the plant's 660-MW, coal-fired unit. The work occurred during the scheduled outage shutdown of the unit in October and November 2012.

The Mount Piper power plant, which began commercial operations in 1993, is equipped with two 660-MW Toshiba Tandem Compound Reheat steam turbines, with a Shikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries water tube coal-fired boiler.

During the 37-day outage, inspections were performed on the turbines and the boiler, including all the minor equipment attached to the unit. This type of work is performed every year at the plant. According to plant officials, the next inspection on Unit 1 is scheduled for the third quarter of 2014.

A similar, major 35-day outage is planned in September 2013 at the 660-MW Unit 2, which will include maintenance on the whole unit, including boiler modifications and repairs to the turbine. The goal is to maximize the plant performance and generation availability, while minimizing revenue lost while the units are offline.

Early in July 2012, Delta Electricity announced the closure of the 700-MW Munmorah power station, which has been maintained on standby since August 2010. High maintenance costs and the increase in the carbon tax eroded the economic viability of the power plant to operate in the New South Wales market.

Delta Electricity currently operates a 1,320-MW Vales Point natural gas power plant and a 1,000-MW Wallerawang power plant in New South Wales. Delta Electricity has decided to shut down the 500-MW Unit 1 at Wallerawang during March 2013, due to weak demand for electricity in the region. This unit will be brought back online based on the market conditions, and the shutdown is projected to last 12 months. The company also operates a 667-MW natural gas power plant, as well as two 30-MW cogeneration plants, in New South Wales.

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