<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/lnp-signs-gas-supply-deal-with-gina-rinehart-company-for-new-gas-generator-a-week-after-killing-off-wind-and-solar/>
"The Queensland LNP government has announced a supply deal for a new gas
generator with a company controlled by Australia’s richest person, Gina
Rinehart, just over a week after announcing its “energy roadmap” that
effectively kills off new wind and solar projects.
The supply deal for the 400 megawatt (MW) Brigalow gas fired power station was
announced by the state-government owned generator CS Energy, which will build
the facility next to its Kogan Creek coal fired power generator. It will be
supplied by the expansion of Senex’ Atlas coal seam gas fields.
Treasurer and energy minister David Janetzki says it will be the first new gas
generator in more than a decade in Queensland, and said gas powered generation
forms a key part of the new Energy Roadmap to deliver affordable, reliable and
sustainable power.
“This is part of our plan to improve the energy assets we have while we build
what we need for the future,” Janetzki said in a statement announcing the deal.
“The Roadmap includes extended coal generation, more low-cost energy production
in wind and solar and more dispatchable supply including gas turbines, pumped
hydro and batteries for firming and storage.”
However, the roadmap’s modelling assumes no new large scale wind and solar
capacity being built in Queensland, apart from those already under
construction, contracted by Rio Tinto (the state’s biggest energy consumer), or
already underwritten by the federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme.
Senex Energy CEO Darren Stevenson said his company is proud to be investing
more than $1 billion in the Western Downs to deliver reliable energy supply for
households and businesses.
“With energy shortfalls forecast for the east coast in coming years, this
agreement will add critical new supply to the domestic market when it’s needed
most,” Senex CEO Darren Stevenson said in a statement.
Just for the record, the Australian Energy Market Operator forecasts no
reliability gaps in Queensland, or breaches of the reliability standard over
the next 10 years, despite the announced early closure of the state’s biggest
coal generator at Gladstone by Rio Tinto.
Rio Tinto has made it clear that its giant smelter and refineries in Gladstone
have no future if they continue to rely on fossil fuel generation, and it has
signed up to a series of wind, solar and solar hybrid off-take agreements, each
the biggest of their kind in Australia.
AEMO has also made it clear that the biggest risk to energy reliability in
Australia is the sudden failure of ageing coal fired power stations, such as
the explosions that have rocked CS Energy’s Callide coal facility in Queensland
in recent years."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
