Stanwell Corporation’s ongoing maintenance program for Tarong Power Station has delivered another milestone with an 18-month project to refurbish one of its cooling towers now complete.
The utility said the cooling towers at Tarong Power Station are some of the largest and most iconic structures on site and are essential to condensing steam back into water to be re-used in the electricity generation process.
Stanwell General Manager Southern Generation, Mick Joy, said Tarong Power Station’s Assets and Engineering Team had successfully completed the refurbishment of the Unit 1 and 2 cooling tower, marking a significant achievement in Stanwell’s ongoing commitment to safety and operational reliability.
“At 116m tall, completing a refurbishment of this scale is no small feat,” Mr Joy said.
“The project started in June 2023, with 50 workers taking around 27,000 hours over the past year-and-a-half to complete it.
“The top panels of the cooling tower have now been replaced, 89m2 of concrete repair completed as well as other measures implemented to improve structural integrity and avoid future deterioration which will extend the cooling tower’s life.
Mr Joy said it has been a collective effort thanks to the ongoing dedication of many teams across the site, with a special shout out to station engineering, site services execution, site services operations, procurement and corporate engineering.
“This is an important investment in the long-term safety, operational efficiency, and reliability of our cooling towers and Tarong Power Station, ensuring we can continue to safely generate energy for our customers.”
Mr Joy said that Stanwell undertakes a year-round maintenance program to make sure its assets like Tarong Power Station are kept in good condition to deliver electricity reliably and safely.
“The Unit 3 and 4 cooling tower will also undergo a refurbishment later this year,” he said.
These towers are designed to cool water and condense steam back into water, which is heated to power the turbines in the plant. These turbines spin at high rates and power the generators that create electricity that goes to market. The water is then pumped back into the boiler to restart the process making the cooling towers an integral part of the electricity generation process.
