South Australia's gas power output reduced in 2014-15: blamed on the market inroads of wind and solar energy
AGL deferred the mothballing of four ageing gas-fired turbines at Torrens A power station on Adelaide's Torrens Island, when the Port Augusta power station closed in 2016.
The advent of wind and solar energy into the South Australian electricity market prompted the mothballing of chunks of the state’s gas-fired generation.
In 2014, the four older units at AGL Torrens’ A station were to be shut and, in 2015, more than half of Pelican Point station’s potential 479MW had its output reduced to 230MW.
AGL deferred the mothballing of the four Torrens A ageing turbines after Alinta Energy’s’s Northern and AGL’s Playford B (mothballed in 2012) coal-fired power stations at Port Augusta were closed in 2016.
Generation at Pelican Point increased to full capacity at the request of the South Australian government for at least a week in July 2016, due to much of the state’s wind generation being offline due to damaging high winds and the Heywood interconnector to the national grid being unavailable due to works associated with a planned increase in its capacity. Pelical Point owners Engie agreed to provide 239MW of extra supply to help system security and calm the market.
AGL Torrens, on Torrens Island 18k kilometres northwest of Adelaide city centre, was South Australia’s largest power station and Australia’s largest natural gas-fired power station.
Owned and operated by AGL Energy, and with a name plate capacity total of 1,280MW, the Torrens Island station burnt natural gas in boilers to generate steam, which then drove the eight turbines. The gas was supplied via the SEAGas pipeline from Victoria and from Moomba in the Cooper Basin. The plant’s ‘A’ Station began operating in 1967 and the ‘B’ Station was completed in 1976.
Gas-fired Pelican Point was one of Australia’s most advanced, efficient and environmentally friendly power stations.
Built in 1999, Pelican Point power station, on LeFevre Peninsula next to the Port River, began generating electricity in 2000, using a combined-cycle gas turbine to produce 479 MW of electricity – capable of catering for about 25% of South Australia’s needs. It also sources gas from Moomba and the Victorian SEAGas pipeline.
Pelican Point had an energy efficiency of more than 50%, compared with older power stations at less than 35%. The combined-cycle system also greatly reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Pelican Point majority joint owner, French company Engie (72%), with Japan’s Mitsui & Co Ltd (28%), owned brown-coal Hazelwood (now shut) and Loy Yang B power stations in Victoria.
