A major maintenance outage is underway on Unit 5 at Vales Point Power Station with works scheduled to continue until mid-December 2025. The nearly $40 million program is part of Delta’s annual outage schedule to ensure the ongoing safety and reliability of the station to meet NSW’s energy security needs.
Activity across the station has ramped up significantly, with around 330 people working on site – including more than 210 additional workers. So far, over 490 work permits have been issued, and more than 600 tonnes of scaffolding is installed to access critical areas of the plant.
The outage is also directly benefiting local businesses and Australian suppliers, with 500 purchases made so far to deliver the works program.
The scale and complexity of the outage reflect Delta’s ongoing commitment to providing reliable energy and essential firming capacity for NSW’s energy system, said Vales Point Power Station Manager Chris Rogers.
“Our people and partners are working together safely and collaboratively to deliver this critical program of work. The outage is about maintaining plant performance and ensuring operational safety and reliability into the future,” Chris said.
There were two unplanned outages at Vales Point in August to repair boiler tube leaks on Unit 5 and Unit 6. The planned outage for Unit 5 was brought forward and extended after issues were detected in the turbine bearings, and inspections revealed greater-than-expected erosion in the turbine caused by increased low load operations. These components were already scheduled for inspection and maintenance as part of the planned outage works.
In addition to the turbine repairs, the outage team is focused on identifying and mitigating dust leaks and completing statutory inspections across the plant.
At Vales Point, two generating units are in operation. One unit is taken offline each year for planned maintenance, allowing safe access to complete complex maintenance, repairs and upgrades across critical systems including turbines and boilers.
Outages enable the opportunity to dismantle and inspect major components that can’t be accessed during operation. This provides deeper insights into the plant’s condition and helps plan for future maintenance and reliability.
Each outage involves months of detailed planning and coordination and requires immense effort from people across our organisation during both the planning phase and the works. While the outage team focuses on Unit 5, our operating team continues to maintain safe, reliable generation from Unit 6 to keep power flowing to the grid.
“Outages like this are a massive team effort, involving coordination across multiple disciplines and strong partnerships with our contractors. Everyone on site is working together safely and efficiently to deliver this critical program of work, ensuring the station continues to operate reliably and support the state’s energy needs,” said Chris.
Published 16 October 2025