Consumables
Anglesea maintenance shutdown
Friday 15. May 2009 - Alcoa Anglesea Power Station is currently undertaking a 27-day maintenance shutdown.
The shutdown commenced at the end of April and takes place every four years and ensures the power station will continue to meet benchmark availability into the future.
This year, the major capital project focus of the $36.9 million shutdown is to replace the stator, which generates the electricity.
The stator was removed on 3 May, with the new 160-tonne replacement put in the next day. The stator replacement is the critical path item of the shutdown due to the scope of work and the time required to turn this work around.
Another major activity is the process of replacing baskets in the sites two air heaters, which assist the power generation process by heating the incoming air to the boiler. Each air heater has a rotor with 196 baskets, with a new style basket being installed. Another aspect of this activity is to remove asbestos from inside the air heater chamber.
To enable maintenance work to begin in the boiler, it first had to undergo a high-pressure clean, which took 84 hours. A full internal scaffold – a first for Anglesea – was set up for workers to inspect the boiler and replace boiler tubes. The boiler void is 12m² x 50m high, requiring an impressive 40 tonnes of scaffold.
The shutdown requires enormous flexibility for Alcoa Anglesea employees, with many embarking on new roles to support the changed needs of the plant.
During the shutdown, Alcoas Point Henry smelter will purchase the 41 per cent of power normally supplied by Anglesea from the state grid.
Did you know?
An average of 275 contractors worked onsite each day during the shutdown, over two shifts (approx 225 on day shift and 50 on night shift), as well as our regular 100 Alcoans, contributing an estimated total of 78,000 hours of work, with more than 500 contractor employees inducted to work during the shutdown.