Yallourn Power Station - Yallourn W

The current Yallourn W power station was built in the 1970s at Yallourn West. In 1969 it was announced that the town of Yallourn would be demolished to enable an expansion of the coal mine, with demolition commenced in the 1970s and completed by 1982. Yallourn W power station was the first Victorian generating entity to be privatised in 1996 when it was sold to a consortium including PowerGen, Itochu, AMP, Hastings and NSW State Super. The plant is currently owned by Hong Kong-based CLP and operates under the TRUenergy brand.

With the coal supply from Yallourn's East Field mine expected to be exhausted in 2007, work commenced on a diversion of the nearby Morwell River five years ago to grant unimpeded access to further coal sources from the Maryvale coal field. Without this, the power station potentially faced significant modification or even closure. The Morwell River Diversion, and the access to coal supplies it allows, will ensure Yallourn can continue to operate until 2032. The 3.5 km diversion was constructed over five years with an investment of A$122 million, and came in on time and on budget. On June 6, 2012, a levee bank failure resulted in the flooding of the Yallourn coal mine causing damage to its infrastructure and cutting fuel supply to the power station.

Recently, the station's name was shortened to be just "Yallourn Power Station". In late 2007, a subsidence in the mine wall resulted in the Latrobe River bursting through, damaging coal conveying plant and flooding low levels of the mine. Urgent earthwork repairs were made with the co-operation of other power generators. Coal production was limited for some weeks.

Carbon Monitoring for Action estimates this power station emits 11.50 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year as a result of burning coal. The Australian Government has announced the introduction of a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme commencing in 2010 to help combat climate change. It is expected to impact on emissions from power stations. The National Pollutant Inventory provides details of other pollutant emissions, but, as at 23 November 2008, not CO2.