Stanwell Power Station is a government-owned coal-fired power generation station located in Stanwell, 23 kilometres (14 mi) south-west of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. At the time of construction, it was one of the largest industrial developments undertaken in Queensland. With a capacity to generate 1,445 megawatts (MW), Stanwell Power Station supplies electricity for distribution to customers via the state's high voltage electricity grid.[1]
| Stanwell Power Station | |
|---|---|
 Stanwell Power Station, 2017 | |
 | |
| Country | Australia |
| Location | Stanwell, Rockhampton Region |
| Coordinates | 23°30′35″S 150°19′7″E / 23.50972°S 150.31861°E |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | 1993 - 1996 |
| Owner | Stanwell Corporation |
| Thermal power station | |
| Primary fuel | Coal |
| Power generation | |
| Nameplate capacity | 1,445 MW |
History
editThe station is located on 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) of land.[1] Construction of the station took seven years, with infrastructure built to withstand cyclonic winds.[1] The first unit at Stanwell was commissioned in 1992, and the station became fully operational in 1996.[2]
Fuel
editCoal is transport via rail from several Central Queensland coal mines.[2] About 4 million tons of coal are used each year.[2]
Design
editThere are four generating units at Stanwell Power Station. The four units and their components are housed in a 20 storey boiler house and a turbine hall the length of three football fields. The power station is highly automated and achieves both an efficient,[clarification needed] effective workplace and high asset performance through the application of innovative technology[3] and organisational design. These innovations have been recognised both nationally and internationally. Stanwell Power Station previously held the world record at 1,073 days of continuous operation on Unit 4.[4] This was surpassed in 2021 by Canadian public entity Ontario Power Generation's Darlington Nuclear Generating Station Unit 1, which ran for 1,106 days continuous.[5]
The station features a 210-metre-high-chimney stack which was constructed using approximately 750,000 bricks.[1] The station has two cooling towers, each stands 130 metres high (about the height of a 40-storey building) and is 100 metres in diameter.[1] Fifteen thousand cubic metres of concrete was poured for each tower.[1] The plume seen coming from the cooling towers is steam, lost through evaporation during the water-cooling process.
Additional facilities
editThe Queensland government and Stanwell decided to build a 1 MW / 10 MWh iron redox flow battery.[6] Construction of a 300 MW / 1,200 MWh battery storage power station at AU$747 million for 2027 started in 2024.[7][8]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Stanwell Corporation Ltd (October 2008). Factsheet: Stanwell Power Station. Stanwell Corporation Ltd.
- ^ a b c "Stanwell Coal Power Station, Australia". www.power-technology.com. Verdict Media. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
- ^ Virtual plant model Archived 2017-01-13 at the Wayback Machine created by the University of Queensland, based on the actual VisSim model used prior to construction.
- ^ World Record for Continuous Operation Archived 30 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Guinness World Records. Retrieved on 27 November 2021.
- ^ "Our story > Darlington's Unit 1 heads into planned outage after record-breaking run". OPG. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ "Stanwell signs major deal for Australian-made long duration iron flow batteries". RenewEconomy. 5 October 2023. Archived from the original on 10 May 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
- ^ "Queensland quadruples size of Stanwell Tesla battery to make it biggest in the state". RenewEconomy. 8 May 2024. Archived from the original on 10 May 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
- ^ "Stanwell begins work on huge 1200MWh mega battery as it starts transformation of major coal hub". RenewEconomy. 12 August 2024.