Michelle Slater
A prolonged unplanned outage at Loy Yang A has now been extended to late-September after technical assessments have been carried out on unit two.
Operator AGL is blaming global supply issues and the availability of specialised materials for the extended outage after it found the generator rotor had failed.
AGL had completed a review of the scope of works when the unit went offline on April 15 following an electrical fault with the generator, with initial estimations it would return to service on August 1.
“Since the initial outage, AGL has been working closely with its engineers and suppliers to plan and implement the necessary works to enable a safe and reliable return to service,” the company said in a statement.
AGL will provide a financial impact on the outage in the new financial year, and has reiterated that it cannot be recovered on insurance.
The Loy Yang fault comes on top of additional outages at AGL’s Bayswater and Liddell coal plants, with about 25 per cent of coal power capacity in the National Electricity Market down or offline.
Meanwhile the energy giant has announced more company heads are departing with chief executive-elect of AGL Australia Ms Corbett stepping down on June 24.
Ms Corbett was due to move into the role as part of the company’s proposed demerger, but made the decision to leave after AGL announced it was ditching the demerger last month.
Her departure follows the resignation of four other senior AGL heads including board chair Peter Botten and chief executive/managing director Graeme Hunt.
“I am very proud of the work my team and I have done over the past 12 months on the AGL Australia strategy which will be an important input into AGL’s review of its strategic direction,” Ms Corbett said.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific senior campaigner Glenn Walker said AGL’s poor corporate governance and reliance on unreliable coal generators stations was directly impacting the cost of living.
“Rather than act in line with the energy transition, AGL instead wasted years and millions of dollars on a dodgy demerger which was never going to work,” Mr Walker said.
“The results are now plain to see – crumbling assets which cannot deliver the energy Australia needs, and a delay in embracing cleaner, cheaper renewable alternatives.”
