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Please attribute to Liz Westcott, Executive Energy – EnergyAustralia:
The Yallourn power station is continuing to respond to recent heavy rainfall across the region and its potential implications at the Yallourn coal mine, including cracking of the Morwell River Diversion wall.
The situation continues to be dynamic and yesterday reduced river levels revealed additional cracking.
At EnergyAustralia, safety is our highest priority. Importantly, all of our people remain safe.
We have suspended access to impacted areas, an exclusion zone has been established and independent geotechnical experts, together with our onsite team and government, are working on actions to stop the water flow around the area of concern.
This includes temporary measures to seal visible cracks and pursuing all options to divert the river water and reduce risks.
Today, we are preparing for limited mining activity in another part of our mine that is four kilometres from the area of concern. This will be conducted in line with detailed risk assessments, consultation with the Victorian mining regulator and in strict accordance with our health and safety plans.
Meanwhile, Yallourn’s generation output is being maintained at an appropriate level to help conserve coal while also ensuring that demand for energy continues to be met.
EnergyAustralia’s other assets are available to meet customers’ energy needs, supported by our Victorian gas plants, Newport and Jeeralang power stations.
We continue to update the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). Separately, they have confirmed that power supply is sufficient to meet demand in all National Electricity Network regions, including Victoria.
While there is enough generation in the system, storms and flooding have damaged powerlines across the region and this is why some customers have been left without power.
We encourage impacted customers to make contact with their distributor.
EnergyAustralia appreciates the community’s interest in our operations and commits to providing further updates as the situation evolves.