Murray 2 Power Station - NSW

This is a concrete surface station initially built with four 137.5 MW generating units giving a total of 550 MW. Completed in 1969 M2 lacks the architectural flair of the 950 MW M1 with which it operates in tandem. Using the same water falling through a head of 264 m as opposed to 460 m at M1, M2 has a lower output as the water has less potential energy. Turbine upgrades and rerating now have 3 units at 128 MW and unit 14 at 150 MW.
Exciters run DC into the rotor so producing a constant magnetic field. The turbine then spins the rotor at 333.3 rpm so moving the magnetic field through the stator and inducing AC. Since the rotor has 18 poles the effective speed is 3000 rpm or 50 Hz which is the AC frequency standard in Australia. Generator power is the product of 17 kV and 8 kA. The station is situated in an open -cut excavation over 75 m deep which added to the head. Over 5.3 million cubic metres of rock was removed with 1/9 th of this used to build Khancoban Dam. The rest was placed into a spoil dump.