Government pressures AGL to sell power station to Alinta

[davidc4430]

Turnbull Government pressures AGL to sell Liddell power station to Alinta

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-05/liddell-power-station-government-pressures-agl-to-sell-to-alin...

i listened to a description of the condition of this aging power station from AGL

sure its up and running but its at the end of its useful life.

needs constant repairs to keep it running.

my question is, who will take responsiblity for any lives lost should it be kept going beyond its current life should it have a massive blow up?

will mr Turnbull? or mr Frydenberg?

i'm pretty sure you wont see them taking any responsiblity for the workers.

[myoclon1cjerk]

Mr Turnbull just wants to get re-elected. That's what it's all about,plain and simple.

[chameleon54]

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@myoclon1cjerkwrote:
Mr Turnbull just wants to get re-elected. That's what it's all about,plain and simple.

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Same as every other politician, regardless of colour...........

As for the power station, my understanding is that they realise it is getting to the end of its use by date, but want to see it kept running for a few more years to plug the gap until renewables are a bit more developed and can provide a more stable supply. Its a re-run of SA,s problems. Its nice to see that pollies have learnt something from our mess and dont want to repeat the electricity fiasco SA has experienced under the previous Labor administration. With modern engineering, testing equipment etc. older equipment can be checked to ensure it is safe to continue operating.

It just makes common ( or perhaps uncommon ) sense to keep the thing going during a period of transition to renewables.

[davidc4430]

i completely understand why govt wants to keep this old generator running.

but the 'they can keep it going by fixing it up' argument is my problem.

this power generator has/is been run by private industry, private industry doesnt kill off any workable infrastucture unless its absolutly stuffed IMO

if it was a govt run power station where it was maintained at peak performance (no matter the cost) i would say yes i think keeping it going would be fine. ive worked in govt industry and well nothing ever got left to run down. things when sold off at auctions were as good as new even if they were 50 years old.

private though do as little maintenance as possible without the thing falling to pieces, its the bottom dollar that counts.

so in my mind, id AGL say beyond 2022 the thing is stuffed, i believe them.

[lyndal1838]

How long has it been in private ownership?

Liddell ws built by the government so was very well built in the first place....no corners were cut.

[chameleon54]

Anything that operates at high pressure ie. boilers etc. are required by law to be regularly tested and checked. The safety regime is quite strict ( onerous ? ) on these sorts of things. An energy company simply could not run biolers etc that could explode if they where not regularly tested and maintained to a very high standard.

As noted in the article, the existing owner of the plant wants to recyle / use much of the infrastructure in other plants, so it cant all be " completely stuffed ".  One problem with private enterprise owning our major utilities infrastructure is they dont give a stuff about whats in the national intrest. If they can reduce supply and increase fees for the energy produced from their other generators they will.

the Liberals pressure on the existing owners of the plant to keep it in operation for awhile longer is just an example of a government taking a mature and responsible course of action to ensure energy security at a national level.

[davidc4430]

of course it not all "completely stuffed"

but it would seem AGL has done an audit of the place and in its view keeping it running past 2022 would not be a viable option, that doesnt mean some of the plant cant be reused or even sold off.

i have no idea what this other company has in its mind for the station but making bad decisions is not unheard of in private business.

if it does get sold off to a new entity i just hope there is someone making sure all those tests and fixes are being done as it has the potential go bang in a big way if they start doing things on the cheap.

how often have wee seen large plants go up in flames overseas, with loss of lives?

i also dont know how long this stations been in private hands.

i personally think power/gas and water should allways be govt owned.

and that shouldnt mean our bills should be rediculously high.