Eraring Power Station

Eraring Power Station is a coal fired electricity power station with four 720 MW Toshiba steam driven turbo-alternators for a combined capacity of 2,880 MW. The station is located near the township of Dora Creek, on the western shore of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia and is owned and operated by Origin Energy. It is Australia's largest power station.History and facilitiesConstruction of the power station began in 1977. The first turbo-alternator was brought online in 1982, with the second and third in 1983, and the fourth in 1984. The generating capacity of each of the four turbines was upgraded from 660 MW to 720 MW between 2011 and 2012. The process of upgrading the control room to a fully digital system was completed in 2005.Salt water from Lake Macquarie is used for cooling and is supplied through a concrete tunnel which passes under Dora Creek and up to the station via open canal. Reclaimed sewage water from the Dora Creek Waste Water Treatment Works is heavily purified and used to generate steam for the turbines as opposed to using municipal potable water supplies. The salt water helps in the cooling of the superheated steam as well as moderation of the temperature of outlet water to minimise thermal pollution.