Not all thermal power stations are created equal. To generate the same amount of electricity as a traditional plant, a HELE plant will burn less coal, emit less carbon dioxide and release less pollutants – helping it to reduce the environmental impact of coal-fired power generation. 

HELE stands for High Efficiency, Low Emissions. It’s still a coal-fired plant – it still burns coal to heat water into steam, and it still uses that steam to spin a turbine that generates electricity. The main difference is that steam goes into the turbine of a HELE plant at a higher temperature and pressure, thanks to a supercritical boiler. 

What is a supercritical boiler? 

Traditional plants use subcritical boilers, which operate below the thermodynamic critical point of water (22.1 megapascals). HELE plants, however, use boilers that operate above 22.1 megapascals – these are referred to as supercritical boilers. 

In a subcritical boiler, there’s a distinct change in phase between feedwater and steam. But in a supercritical boiler, the feedwater doesn’t need to pass through a distinct boiling phase, and immediately becomes a fluid that’s indistinguishable from steam. Because of this instantaneous phase change, supercritical boilers don’t require a drum to separate steam from feedwater.

In fact, the process is so fast that the term ‘supercritical boiler’ is a bit of a misnomer, because there’s no actual boiling happening inside the device. 

There are also ultra-supercritical boilers in operation – these function in much the same way as supercritical boilers, but at even hotter temperatures, above 600°C. 

Because these supercritical and ultra-supercritical plants operate at higher temperatures and pressures than subcritical plants, they can produce a greater amount of energy from each individual unit of coal. 

The exact numbers vary from plant to plant, but as a general rule, a typical subcritical plant has a thermal efficiency of 38 per cent, which means that 38 per cent of the thermal energy contained in each unit of coal is converted into electrical energy. A supercritical plant, on the other hand, will convert about 42 per cent of that thermal energy to electrical energy, and a plant using ultra-supercritical technology will achieve up to around 47 per cent efficiency.

In a nutshell, that’s what makes HELE plants more efficient – they need to burn less fuel to produce the same amount of energy, and less fuel means less carbon emissions.

Is HELE generation ‘clean’? 

Aside from releasing carbon dioxide, burning coal also produces other atmospheric pollutants, including sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter. Most HELE plants utilise a range of state-of-the-art combustion optimisation and flue gas treatment technologies to virtually eliminate these pollutants. 

HELE power stations are sometimes referred to as ‘clean coal’, but it would be more accurate to refer to this generation as ‘cleaner coal’. After all, HELE stands for High Efficiency, Low Emissions – not High Efficiency, No Emissions. 

Coal is a non-renewable fossil fuel that, by its nature, is not clean, and even the most efficient HELE plant will still emit more carbon than a renewable generator.

Are there any HELE plants in Australia? 

There are four HELE power stations in Australia, and they’re all in Queensland. All four are supercritical plants – there are no ultra-supercritical plants in operation in Australia. 

Tarong North Power Station, for example, is a supercritical plant that was commissioned in 2003. The single 443 MW advanced cycle coal-fired unit’s supercritical boiler technology reduces CO2 emissions by about 10 per cent compared to conventional subcritical boilers. 

Tarong North Power Station also uses an advanced bag filtration system to capture fine particles that are produced by burning coal. This industrial-scale bag filter captures 99.99 per cent of all emitted dust particles, reducing the station’s particulate emissions.

Why aren’t there more HELE plants in Australia? 

Considering the importance of reducing carbon emissions, and the greater thermal efficiency of HELE plants, you might be wondering why all coal-fired power stations haven’t gone the HELE route. 

The materials that power plants are made out of have their limits. While supercritical boiler technology was first patented in 1922, it’s only the recent advancements in the properties of the steels used in superheater tubes, steam pipes and high pressure turbine inlets that have made higher temperatures and pressures possible in practice. 

Over time, these material properties will continue to improve, so that higher steam pressures and temperatures could be reached, and higher efficiencies could theoretically be achieved.

But the cost of retro-fitting existing power stations with these materials and making them HELE-ready would be significant. If an entirely new coal-fired plant was to be built in Australia, it could use supercritical, ultra-supercritical or even advanced ultra-supercritical technology – but that’s unlikely. 

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has forecast the retirement of 90 per cent of Australia’s remaining coal generation by 2034-35, with the rest of the fleet expected to follow by 2038. 

Similarly, the Queensland SuperGrid Infrastructure Blueprint projects that the state will no longer be regularly reliant on coal-fired generation by 2035. By then, renewable energy generators, pumped hydro energy storage, batteries and low emissions gas-fuelled plant are expected to have replaced the capacity that’s currently provided by coal. 

Instead, Queensland’s publicly owned coal-fired power stations – including the supercritical Tarong North Power Station – will gradually be converted into clean energy hubs. These clean energy hubs will take advantage of the skilled workforces, strong network connections and existing infrastructure that’s already present at these stations, and help to ensure the continued security and reliability of the energy system as it evolves. 

This shift is expected to begin from 2027. In the meantime, coal-fired power stations will continue to operate as they are now, providing baseload power and keeping downward pressure on electricity prices – but ultimately, the future of the energy system will be renewable.