Playford Power Station

The Playford Power Station (which is sometimes referred to as the Playford B Power Station or the Thomas Playford Power Station) is located in Port Augusta, South Australia. The power station, which is owned by Alinta Energy, is coal powered with four 60 megawatt (MW) units for a total installed capacity of 240 MW of electricity.

The sole supply of coal for the Playford Power Station is from the Leigh Creek mine, 250 kilometres to the north.

Fading away
Alinta Energy, which bought the power station in 2006, describes it as being an "intermediate" supplier to the power grid. "Playford typically operates during the summer period when demand for electricity is greatest," the company states on its website. However, the plant -- which as of early 2013 is not currently operating -- has an uncertain future. Alinta nominated the plant as a possible contender to be closed under the federal government's Contract for Closure Program. However the program was abandoned. (See below for details).

The Australian Energy Market Operator report that the level of utilisation of the plant in recent recent has slumped from over 48% in 2009/2010 to just over 15% in 2010/11 and just over 13% in 2011/12. AEMO also report that Alinta has advised it that "until further advised" the Playford power station "will only be available after a recall time of 70 days."

Greenhouse gas emissions
Carbon Monitoring for Action estimated this power station emits 1.77 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year as a result of burning coal.

Contract for Closure Program
As a part of the carbon tax package the federal government undertook to negotiate with power generators to enter into contracts to shut down 2,000 megawatts of capacity by 2020 from the dirtiest power stations in Australia. Following the announcement Alinta indicated that it was interested in negotiating with the federal government to close the Playford power station. The contracts are scheduled to be completed before June 2012.

In early 2012 Alinta expressed interest in negotiating a compensation package to shut the Playford power station as a part of the federal government's Contract for Closure Program. However, in September 2012 the federal government abandoned the program without reaching agreement to close any of the most greenhouse gas polluting plants. Alinta stated that "whilst not currently operating" the Playford plant "remains available for recall subject to market conditions including the impacts of carbon pricing."

Early in 2012 Alinta stated that "the Playford Power Station will remain available for operation throughout the year, and will be operated in circumstances where it’s economic to do so, including during summer to support the Northern power station."

Handout from carbon tax package
Alinta Energy received $59,482,064.73 of the $1 billion cash payments given out in 2011/12 to the operators of the most polluting coal-fired power stations. The cash was paid from the Energy Security Fund which was established as a part of the carbon tax legislation passed in 2011. Alinta sought the payment for the "Augusta power stations" inferring it was for both the Northern Power Station and the Playford power station.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * South Australia and coal
 * Australia and coal
 * Australian Coal Association
 * Queensland and coal
 * Western Australia and coal