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- AGL Energy (AGL) reports an electrical fault at its large Loy Yang A coal power station
- The station warns shareholders and the Australian Energy Market Operator that it could keep one-quarter of its capacity offline until the start of August
- The company says it is assessing the length of the potential outage at Unit 2 at the 2210-megawatt plant, the largest in Victoria, “as well as measures that may be taken to mitigate the impact of the outage”
- AGL will inform the market of any financial impact of the technical fault, and the timing of the outage. It expects to complete its assessment before mid-May
- AGL shares are down 5.85 per cent, trading at $8.29
AGL Energy (AGL) has suffered an electrical fault at its Loy Yang A coal power station.
The company warned shareholders and the Australian Energy Market Operator that it could keep one-quarter of its capacity offline until the start of August, late in the winter peak demand period.
The station is Victoria’s biggest, supplying about 30 per cent of the state’s electricity. The fault occurred last Friday, taking Unit 2 at the 2210-megawatt plant out of commission.
The company said it is assessing the length of the potential outage as well as measures that may be taken to mitigate the impact of the outage.
AGL said it would inform the market of any financial impact of the technical fault, and the timing of the outage, once it had completed its assessment, expected no later than the first week of May.
AGL recently completed a seven-year, $60 million investment project at the plant to convert all the four operating units from analogue systems to modern, digital control systems, a move it said was vital to ensure energy supply reliability.
In June 2018, the Victorian Government extended AGL Loy Yang’s coal mining licence through to 2065.
As part of its licence extension, AGL committed to provide five years notice of closure of Loy Yang A Power Station.
AGL shares were down 5.85 per cent, trading at $8.29 as of 11:27 am AEST.
