Ode to South Australia’s last coal power plant

Gary Rowbottom worked at the Northern brown coal power generator in Port Augusta, South Australia, for 17 years. On Monday, the power station closed. Rowbottom is now looking forward to a renewable energy future. He sent this through to RenewEconomy.

Now our time here has come,

We are all done now, out on our bum.

Sixty Two years of power generation in Port Augusta

Now ends, proudly we go to our final muster,

For most of us it is sad, but happy for some.

Silent now lay the huge turbogenerators

Awaiting the pleasure of the demolition contractors.

The boilers are cold, there will be no more steam,

To see it pulled down will make some people scream,

It will all go, to the last valve, the last actuator.

We’ve had our troubles, many a steam leak,

Oft times the Instros, the controls they did tweak.

Our work here generating power was noble,

Safety was our watchword, not here a Chernobyl.

And mostly we were back on line in under a week.

The reliable management of the steam turbine,

Will no longer be a responsibility of mine,

Churning out Two Seven Two Megawatts at its peak,

Its biggest failure, a casing steam leak.

No need to fuss now, its life cut short of design

The last MegaWatt has been dispatched,

To the electricity market we are now mismatched.

The way of the energy future is renewable,

Most of the experts, think it is doable.

The possibilities have barely been scratched.

It seems we could not earn any profit,

So what to do now? Well, off it!

So how can we be sure to have enough power?

There’s no need to be glum, bitter or sour.

I think we need a concentrating solar thermal tower!