Volatility, coal issues push EnergyAustralia into loss

Australia-based and Hong Kong-owned utility EnergyAustralia reported a loss for 2022, citing volatile market conditions and coal supply issues as some of the reasons.

EnergyAustralia announced on 27 February that it suffered a loss of $128mn in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and fair value adjustments (ebitdaf) compared to an ebitdaf profit of A$486mn ($339mn) in 2021.

"Our financial performance in 2022 was driven by volatile market conditions, asset reliability and coal supply issues," EnergyAustralia's managing director Mark Collette said.

EnergyAustralia's 1,480MW brown coal-fired Yallourn power plant in Victoria suffered a series of unplanned outages last year, including a coal conveyor system fire and recurring maintenance issues.

Its 1,400MW Mount Piper black coal-fired power station in New South Wales (NSW) saw reduced output last year following a planned outage and curtailed generation to conserve fuel, as coal deliveries from a supplier were lower than contracted, according to the firm.

"Our plan for 2023 focuses on actions to improve energy supply reliability from our major generation assets at Yallourn and Mount Piper," Collette said.

The firm will bring forward maintenance at each of the four generation units at Yallourn ahead of the plant's planned closure in 2028 to boost safety, reliability and performance. The maintenance will entail major scheduled outages at the units during 2023 and 2024, and the company will invest about $400mn to carry out the programme.

The firm has also created a new coal supply agreement for Mount Piper to boost coal reliability and electricity supply for NSW. The agreement involves multi-mine supply arrangements with Thai-owned Australian coal producer Centennial, for the latter to provide coal from its Airly and Springvale mines.

EnergyAustralia also aims to complete the 316MW Tallawarra B gas-fired power plant this year, to cater to demand in the peak summer season in NSW. The plant will also utilise hydrogen for generation, and direct carbon emissions from the project will be offset over its operational life.

By Prethika Nair