Re: Cold starting power stations (was Y2K Fears to Stop Cityrail Trains)

["Chris Stratton" <stratton.chris.cp@nospam.bhp.com.au>]

Matthew Geier <matthew@mail.usyd.edu.au> wrote in message
7nljga$lh5$1@metro.ucc.usyd.edu.au">news:7nljga$lh5$1@metro.ucc.usyd.edu.au...
>
>
>  (The big power stations need a smaller one to 'boot' them. If the grid
> shuts of, and the power stations shutdown, where will the power come to
> restart them ?. There is a lot of switch gear to manually control to get
the
> Hydro in the Snowy switched to the Hunter to get the biggies online.)
>
I just rang my father to ask him about this as he was an engineer for the
Electricity Commission and later Illawarra County Council (now Integral
Energy). He said to cold start a thermal power station you would use a
diesel gen-set to provide power for the auxiliaries, eg fans for the
boilers, oil pumps to float the turbine bearings and all the appropriate
control gear. He also said they could turn on the hydro station at
Warragamba, NSW (which he worked on during construction) to provide some
power to the grid to get the thermal stations running. He also mentioned
that most power stations have banks of batteries to provide DC when starting
as the circuit breakers use a DC closing supply.

Regards,
Chris Stratton
Wollongong, NSW, Australia
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