Loy Yang B power station

Loy Yang B power station is jointly owned by a consortium of International Power plc (70%) and Mitsui & Co. Ltd (30%) which trades as International Power Mitsui (IPM).

The power station is located near Traralgon and in 2009 it was estimated to have emitted 9.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e).

Power station
The power station generates approximately 1026 megawatts of electricity which International Power Australia states is "17 per cent of Victoria’s power needs". The power station burns brown coal from the adjacent Loy Yang mine, which is owned and operated by AGL subsidiary Loy Yang Power. The first unit of the power station was commissioned in 1993 and the second in 1996.

(Another report from 2003 lists the units as being two 500 megawatt generating units commissioned with an overall capacity of 1000 megawatts. It was also assessed as having a "sent out thermal efficiency" of approximately 30.8.)

Handout from carbon tax package
The owners of the Loy Yang B power station received $116,904,439.63 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.

Dispute with the Victorian State Revenue Office
In its 2009 annual report, International Power reported that the preceding year it had settled a dispute with the Victorian State Revenue Office over stamp duty on the purchase of the Loy Yang B and Valley Power plants. "Although at the time we did not consider any Australian stamp duty would be payable, the Victorian State Revenue Office (VSRO) challenged that position. In 2008 we signed a settlement agreement with the VSRO, under which we agreed to make payments for stamp duty on the transaction spread over 5 years. The £20 million charged as an exceptional item represents the present value of those payments," the company stated.

Protests
On September 3, 2007, activists from Real Action on Climate Change chained themselves to the coal conveyor belt from the Loy Yang mine which supplies coal to the brown-coal-fired Loy Yang A Power Station and Loy Yang B Power Station in Traralgon, Australia. Two people, and others hung several large banners from the plant. The action took place several days before an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Sydney, and was intended to draw attention to Prime Minister John Howard's failure to limit Australian carbon emissions. Four people were arrested.

Waste disposal
On its website, Loy Yang Power states that adjacent to the power station is a 56 hectare ash pond containing 9.8 million cubic metres of ash. "The ash pond is used to collect the ash and dust removed from the boiler and draft plant of both Loy Yang Power and Loy Yang B. The ash and dust is mixed with water to form a slurry, which is pumped, to the ash pond. The ash and dust then settles from the slurry and the water is recycled back to the power station to be reused in the ash disposal process. Excess saline waste from all Latrobe Valley generators is pumped to the Loy Yang Ash Pond for disposal via an ocean outfall."

National Pollutant Inventory Data
The Australian's Government's National Pollutant Inventory lists emissions from the Loy Yang B power station for 2008/2009 as being:

Contact details
Loy Yang B Power Station Locked Bag 2500 Bartons Lane Traralgon Victoria 3844 Australia Tel: +61 (0)3 5177 2000

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