Development of the brown coal reserves at Morwell was started by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) in 1949 as the 'Morwell Project', which included the Morwell open cut mine, and the Morwell briquette works.
The Morwell Interconnecting Railway linked the power station and briquette works to the Yallourn open cut mine until 1993.

Hazelwood Power Station was approved in 1959, and was to consist of six 200-megawatt (270,000 hp) generating units, giving a total of 1,200 MW of generating capacity.
The first unit was to enter service in 1964, and the sixth in 1971.
Growing electricity demand saw a review carried out by the SECV in 1963, with commissioning of the generating units moved forward to 1969.
Additional capacity was provided when in 1965 two additional generating units at Hazelwood were approved, to be commissioned in 1970 and 1971 respectively.

Hazelwood relied on brown coal deposits from the nearby Morwell open cut mine.
In 2003, the plant used 17.2 million tonnes (16,900,000 long tons; 19,000,000 short tons) of coal, while a further 1.6 million tonnes (1,600,000 long tons; 1,800,000 short tons) of coal was supplied from the Morwell mine to Morwell Power Station Energy Brix Australia 2.5 km North East of Hazelwood Power Station.
Development of the brown coal reserves at Morwell was started by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) in 1949 as the 'Morwell Project', which included the Morwell open cut mine, and the Morwell briquette works. The Morwell Interconnecting Railway linked the power station and briquette works to the Yallourn open cut mine until 1993.
Hazelwood Power Station was approved in 1959, and was to consist of six 200-megawatt (270,000 hp) generating units, giving a total of 1,200 MW of generating capacity. The first unit was to enter service in 1964, and the sixth in 1971. Growing electricity demand saw a review carried out by the SECV in 1963, with commissioning of the generating units moved forward to 1969. Additional capacity was provided when in 1965 two additional generating units at Hazelwood were approved, to be commissioned in 1970 and 1971 respectively.
Hazelwood relied on brown coal deposits from the nearby Morwell open cut mine. In 2003, the plant used 17.2 million tonnes (16,900,000 long tons; 19,000,000 short tons) of coal, while a further 1.6 million tonnes (1,600,000 long tons; 1,800,000 short tons) of coal was supplied from the Morwell mine to Morwell Power Station Energy Brix Australia 2.5 km North East of Hazelwood Power Station.
Hazelwood Power Station