Government brings in aero turbines to fill emergency power gap for two summers

Nine new General Electric aero-derivative turbines, bought through American company APR Energy, were installed by the state government in time for 2017 summer as an emergency backup to avert power blackouts.

Part of the $550 million energy plan, the generators were a fill-in measure for two summers before a government-owned gas-fired power generator is built.
Together, the turbines will be capable of quickly producing up to 276 MW of energy. The state-owned generators will be tested monthly and only used when required to prevent an electricity supply shortfall.

The advantages of the aero-derivative generators is that they start quickly and load up quickly and are fuel efficient. They would fill the gap while the other generators are ramping up to meet the load.

The bus-size turbines will be at the former General-Motors Holden plant in Elizabeth and at the desalination plant in Lonsdale.

While operating on diesel at the temporary locations the power plant will emit 25% less CO2 per megawatt hour than the former Northern Power Station. Once operating on gas, they will be more efficient than Torrens Island Power Station. GE’s TM2500 units are cleaner and quieter than competitors in the market including diesel reciprocating engines, producing up to 94% lower nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions, significantly less particulate matter and up to 20% less noise.