Origin Delays Mortlake Power Station Unit Restart

Australian gas and power retailer, Origin Energy, said December 2 there will be a delay in the restart of the gas-fired Mortlake power station generating unit which was damaged by an electrical fault in July this year.

The company said it notified the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) about the delay on November 29. “The unit is now expected to be returned to service on 30 December, a delay of 10 days to the original advice provided to AEMO following the July incident,” Origin said.

 Origin’s executive general manager for energy supply and operations, Greg Jarvis, said inclement weather and delays in securing specialist commissioning technicians have impacted the schedule.

“We now expect to return the impacted Mortlake unit to service on Monday, 30 December 2019, in advance of the traditional peak summer electricity consumption period,” Jarvis said.

As per Origin, the impacted unit represents less than 3% of Victoria’s total installed generation capacity.