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Drought conditions continue to restrict the availability of cooling water to Delta’s Wallerawang and Mt Piper Power Stations. The Coxs River storages have not recovered following recent rains and Oberon Dam, which supplies the critical water needs of Wallerawang Power Station, has fallen to a record low and Level 6 restrictions are in place.
Delta has already taken the following steps to mitigate the impact of the drought:
- Additional water has been secured from a local mine;
- The capacity of the desalination plant at Mt Piper has been increased to maintain the quality of the remaining water supplies to that power station.
The 1400 MW Mt Piper Power Station has sophisticated salinity management control systems incorporated into its design and these steps have ensured its continued operation for the foreseeable future.
However, the older 1000 MW Wallerawang power station is heavily reliant on the water it receives from the Fish River scheme (i.e. Oberon Dam and the Duckmaloi transfer) to control water salinity. These supplies are essential for use in the power station’s demineralised water treatment plant. It is not possible to use Coxs River water for this purpose as it would damage this item of plant and cause loss of generation capacity.
Delta is constraining the electricity output from Wallerawang to match the amount of water it is currently receiving from the Fish River scheme and some constraint on output may continue throughout 2010 unless the situation improves. A reverse osmosis plant will be installed at Wallerawang power station by late 2010 and this will go some way towards relieving the water quality constraints being experienced by the power station at this time.
7 April 2010
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