Yallourn Power Station

Yallourn Power Station
Yallourn W Power Station viewed from the south.
Location of the Yallourn Power Station in Victoria, Australia.
Country	Australia
Location	Yallourn, Victoria
Coordinates	38°10′42″S 146°20′21″E / 38.17833°S 146.33917°E / -38.17833; 146.33917Coordinates: 38°10′42″S 146°20′21″E / 38.17833°S 146.33917°E / -38.17833; 146.33917
Status	Operational
Construction began	1921
Commission date	Yallourn A: 1928 Yallourn B: 1932 Yallourn C: 1954 Yallourn D: 1957 Yallourn E: 1961 Yallourn W: 1973-1982
Decommission date	A: 1969 B: 1970 C: 1985 D: 1986 E: 1989
Owner(s)	EnergyAustralia (Yallourn W)
Thermal power station
Primary fuel	Brown coal
Power generation
Units operational	A: 70 MW (94,000 hp) B: 100 MW (130,000 hp) C: 120 MW (160,000 hp) D: 120 MW (160,000 hp) E: 2 × 120 MW (160,000 hp) W: 2 × 350 MW (470,000 hp) W: 2 × 375 MW (503,000 hp)
Nameplate capacity	1,480 MW (1,980,000 hp)
Website Energy Australia - Yallourn Power Station

The Yallourn Power Station was a complex of six brown coal–fuelled thermal power stations built progressively from the 1920s to the 1960s. Located in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia, the complex was situated beside the Latrobe River, with the company town of Yallourn located to the south west. Today only the 1,450 megawatts (1,940,000 hp) Yallourn W plant remains, the third largest power station in Victoria which supplies 22% of state's electricity and 8% of National Electricity Market needs. The adjacent open Yallourn brown coal mine is the largest open cut coal mine in Australia, with reserves to meet the projected needs of the power station to 2032.

Power generation at Yallourn was first proposed in 1919 when the Victorian Government appointed a committee to investigate the use of coal from the Latrobe Valley. The plant was operated by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, and the first sod was turned at the Yallourn Power Station site in 1921. Along with the power station, the town of Yallourn was constructed nearby to house workers of the plant. Coal was moved from the open cut mine to the power station by the Yallourn 900mm Railway, a narrow gauge electric railway running along temporary tracks in the mine. The Morwell Interconnecting Railway was later provided to the Morwell power station and briquette works for the transfer of Yallourn coal to the briquette works, as Morwell mine (now called Hazelwood mine) coal did not briquette satisfactorily.