Bayswater Power Station

Coal fired power station in New South Wales, Australia

Bayswater Power Station is a bituminous (black) coal powered thermal power station with four Tokyo Shibaura Electric (Japan) steam driven turbo alternators for a combined capacity of Commissioned between 1985 and 1986, the station is located from Muswellbrook, and from Singleton in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Prior to September 2014 Bayswater Power Station was part of NSW Government power producer, Macquarie Generation. Macquarie Generation was acquired by AGL Energy in September 2014.

The first generator was completed in 1985, and the remaining three generators progressively that same year and throughout 1986. Bayswater draws its cooling water from the Hunter River under water entitlements negotiated with the government of New South Wales. The Barnard River Scheme also allows Bayswater and Liddell to transfer water from the upper Manning River catchment into the Hunter River for their use. Much of the coal is supplied by overland conveyors from mines it shares with the nearby Liddell Power Station. Coal consumption is around per annum and produces around of electricity a year. This is enough power for 2 million average Australian homes and families.

Carbon Monitoring for Action estimates this power station emits 19.80 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year as a result of burning coal. In 2010 the Australian Government announced the introduction of a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme to help combat climate change. It is expected to impact on emissions from power stations. The National Pollutant Inventory provides details of a range of pollutant emissions, including CO, estimated at for the year ending 30 June 2011. In 2009, the power station was the subject of "the first ever legal action aimed at curbing greenhouse gas pollution from a coal fired power station". Environmental activist Pete Gray went to the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, asking it to find that the power station had been "wilfully or negligently disposing of waste [ ] by emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in a manner that has harmed or is likely to harm the environment in contravention of section 115(1) of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997", and sought an injunction against the station. The case, Gray and Anor v Macquarie Generation, was ongoing at the time of Gray's death from cancer in April 2011.

In December 2018, a proposed upgrade to the Bayswater Power Station was approved to be completed around the same time as the proposed closure of the Liddell Power Station in 2022. Both are owned by AGL Energy and consume coal from the same mine. The upgrade approval did not impose tighter air emission controls, however AGL claimed that the closure of Liddell would result in a net improvement in air quality. The upgrade will increase the rated capacity of three turbines on the four generating units, increasing the capacity of each unit by 25MW whilst slightly decreasing the amount of coal consumed.