7 December 2011
A $1.5 billion Clean Energy Precinct facilitating gas, wind, solar and geothermal power is planned to be developed in South Australia by Petratherm to help underpin the State’s growing electricity demand.
The world-class renewable energy project announced by the company today plans to deliver 600MW of power to the growing electricity market by 2016, and in particular meet the increased demand expected from large mining developments in SA.
Located in northern South Australia – 50km north of its Paralana geothermal project – Petratherm’s Clean Energy Precinct will enjoy exclusive access to over 1,800 square kilometres of land for power generation and will aim to serve the growing electricity market in the northwest of the State.
Petratherm Managing Director Terry Kallis said the clean energy precinct is an exciting “game changer” for the Company.
“I expecting the Precinct to transform Petratherm and to clearly differentiate our offering in the market,” said Mr Kallis.
“The Precinct is expected to initially focus on gas and wind power generation before expanding to solar and geothermal as these technologies develop as lower cost alternatives.”
“Through the combination of new power generation facilities on-site, the 600MW of electricity we plan to produce will be reliable, competitively priced electricity to meet expected demand from large mining developments.”
“Importantly, the Precinct project would also be a major contributor to the reduction of the State’s and Nation’s carbon emissions.”
Mr Kallis said the precinct’s strategic location on Moolawatana Station (“Moolawatana” is a derivative of an Adnyamathanha aboriginal phrase meaning “windy place”) means that it is not only within close proximity to the company’s Paralana geothermal project, but is also traversed by the Moomba to Adelaide gas pipeline and offers excellent solar and wind resources.
“The location has been purposely selected because it’s the nearest point to the growing electricity market where there’s a convergence of all four energy resources – gas, wind, solar and geothermal,” he said.
“This combination of energy sources can deliver attractive hybrid products to customers that lower electricity costs and improve reliability while also reducing carbon emissions.”
Mr Kallis said the unique Clean Energy Precinct is separate from the Paralana project but has been specifically designed to help enable large-scale geothermal power to get to market, with an independent estimate recently confirming Paralana’s potential to produce 1,300MW of continuous geothermal power for 30 years.
The 600MW of power developed by the Precinct would be delivered to growing markets in the northwest of the State and be developed in a staged process. The first 300MW will come from a combination of gas and wind power, while the second 300MW will include geothermal and solar as these technologies become more cost-competitive.
In addition, Petratherm’s Heliotherm research project currently being undertaken with the University of Adelaide also provides further opportunity in the future to fully integrate the various energy sources by potentially reducing the capital costs of solar thermal by as much as 40%, and providing base-load operation.
Mr Kallis said work to establish the Clean Energy Precinct has already commenced with plans for monitoring equipment to be installed on-site to accurately measure wind and solar resources, while investor interest has also been received from several large renewable and energy companies – locally and internationally – with potential technology and joint venture partnerships to be considered in coming months.
Additional information about this announcement is available in an Australian Securities Exchange release issued by Petratherm today (see www.asx.com.au).
MEDIA CONTACT:
Terry Kallis Petratherm Limited 08 8274 5000
Kieran Hall Hughes Public Relations 08 8412 4100
