page_title: Geelong Power Station
section_title: Geelong B
hierarchical_section_title: Geelong Power Station / Geelong B
caption_attribution_description: English: Geelong B Power Station - Victoria, Australia
context_page_description: The city of Geelong, Victoria, Australia was once home to two coal fueled power stations - Geelong A and Geelong B.
  The first moves to providing an electricity supply to Geelong were made in 1898, with three separate companies vying for the right to operate in the city. Two of these companies merged to form the Electric Lighting and Traction Company of Australia, who built the Geelong A power station. The company was later taken over by the Melbourne Electric Supply Company, who remained the supplier of electricity to Geelong until 1 September 1930, when the company was purchased by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria. In 1936 Geelong was connected to the state electrical grid, and by the 1960s Geelong A had closed. Geelong B remained for a few more years being used for peak loads only, but closed in 1970 due to the much higher efficiency of the new power stations in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.
context_section_description: The Geelong B power station was of 30,000 kilowatt (30 MW) capacity and located at North Geelong on the edge of Corio Bay. It was also the largest power station in Victoria outside the Latrobe Valley. The plant was officially opened on 8 October 1954 by the Honourable J.W. Galbally, MLC, Minister in Charge of Electrical Undertakings.
  Geelong B was a 'packaged' station from components imported from the United States of America and was erected under contract for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria. The contract included the supply and erection of buildings, boilers, generators, transformers, switchgear and coal handling equipment, and putting the station into service.
  The power station was of unusual design, with no conventional boiler house, the boilers being out of doors except for the boiler operating face, which helped to reduce building costs. Each of the three boilers was connected to a generator of 10,000 kW capacity. Cooling water for the power station was drawn from Corio Bay, and most of the power generated was used by local industry.
  The boilers were automatically controlled, and produced 110,000 pounds of steam per hour (49,900 kg/h) at 625 psi (4.3 MPa). Fuel was moved by belt bucket and scraper conveyors to the fuel bunkers, then delivered to the boilers by mechanical spreader stokers.
  The fuel used was brown coal purchased by the SECV from the Wensley Brae open cut mine, just west of Wensleydale, but from 1960 better quality coal was purchased from a mine at Anglesea instead. (The Anglesea mine was then used to fuel the adjacent Anglesea Power Station that opened in 1969 and closed in 2015.) A third change in fuel supplied occurred soon after, with the boilers being converted to use briquettes brought to Geelong by rail from Yallourn.
  By the 1960s the power station was only used to meet peak loads due to its high operating cost, and the station was closed in 1970 when newer power stations were opened in the Latrobe Valley.
  The building known as the Powerhouse still stands today and in 2014 was the site of an arts project curated by Ian Ballis that decorated the once derelict building with many of pieces of art. It was opened to the public at the time.  Rone was one artist who participated.
caption: Geelong B power station from the west, looking over Corio Bay
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