Loy Yang A coal generator unit offline for second time in three years

AGL Energy says a troubled generator unit at the Loy Yang A coal fired power station has been taken offline, possibly until August, due to an electrical fault within the generator.

It is the second time the ‘Unit 2’ generator at the Loy Yang A power station has been shut down due to an electrical fault, with a similar incident occurring in 2019 that shut down the same generator unit for more than seven months.

“An investigation is under way into the cause of the electrical fault and AGL is engaging with the relevant authorities and technical experts,” AGL said in a statement to the ASX on Wednesday.

AGL said that it was still assessing the extent of the fault, which may not be known until early May. AGL indicated that the unit could remain offline until at least August, but the full timeline is pending the completion of the assessment of the unit’s fault.

“AGL is currently assessing the length of any resulting outage that may occur at Loy Yang A Unit 2 as well as measures that may be taken to mitigate the impact of the outage,” AGL’s statement says.

“On a precautionary basis, AGL has informed the Australian Energy Market Operator that the length of this outage may be until 1 August 2022, subject to the completion of this assessment. AGL notes that this estimate is highly preliminary and subject to change.”

Data from the OpenNEM platform suggests the unit first when offline in the early morning of 15 April.

Loy Yang A’s unit 2 generator operates with a rated 530MW capacity, and was previously rendered offline due to equipment failures in May 2019.

The unit remained offline for the remainder of 2019, returning back to service more than seven months later, after AGL completed extensive repairs. AGL said that the 2019 outage cost the company around $100 million in lost revenue.

Loy Yang A power station, which has a total operating capacity of 2,210MW, and is one of Australia’s last remaining brown coal fuelled power stations, was commissioned in the mid-1980s.

AGL announced in February that it had brought forward the expected closure date for the power station, now expected to close progressively between 2040 and 2045.

More to come.