Preparations are underway for the Tarong North Power Station outage

1 September 2020

Our team at Tarong are planning for the upcoming Tarong North Power Station outage commencing in late October. To their surprise they recently received an important 160 tonne delivery eight weeks early – new primary economisers.

What’s that you ask? Primary economisers preheat water prior to it entering the boiler. They will be used to replace the old economisers in the upcoming outage.

The replacement of our primary economisers is an important part in actively managing our assets and investing in our plant for the future. They will be replaced because the walls of original economiser tubes are almost worn through due to erosion from fly ash.

Stanwell was pleased to engage Clyde Bergemann Australia (Clyde Bergemann), to manufacture the economisers which were completed eight weeks ahead of schedule.  

The construction of the primary economisers was by no means a small feat, especially given the challenges COVID-19 made to work environments over the past five months.

Approximately 160 tonnes of steel went into making the 68 economiser elements and 136 associated inlet bends, with each element weighing 2.5 tonnes – that’s about one-and-a-half times as heavy as a medium sized car.

Clyde Bergemann carried out 80 per cent of the manufacturing work in New South Wales. The work consisted of tube bending and finning, welding of the tubes together to form the elements, testing for leaks and painting.

Tarong’s Mechanical Engineering Superintendent, Russell Vorpagel, said given the disruptions across the manufacturing industry caused by COVID-19, he was appreciative of the economisers’ early delivery.

“The prompt delivery has ensured we are well prepared for the upcoming Tarong North outage,” Russell said.

“Our overhauls benefit and support other Australian businesses and provide flow on economic benefits to the local region, which is particularly important during the tough economic times we’re currently facing”.

A big thank you to our supplier, Clyde Bergemann, for their great efforts in delivering early, their supplier Bluescope Steel Port Kembla and UGL’s cranage crew at Tarong power stations for the safe unloading of the elements when they arrived.