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Australia’s APA outlines Kurri Kurri gas pipeline costs

  • Märkte: Electricity, Hydrogen, Natural gas
  • 11.05.22

A proposed pipeline to connect east Australia's gas grid to the 750MW open-cycle gas-fired power plant at Kurri Kurri in New South Wales (NSW) will cost A$264mn ($183mn), according to its developer gas infrastructure firm APA Group.

The pipeline costs were contained in APA's environmental impact statement (EIS). They are in addition to the A$600mn the Australian federal government has pledged to state-owned utility Snowy Hydro to build the Kurri Kurri peaking power plant that Canberra wants built following the planned closure of the 1,680MW Liddell black coal-fired power plant in NSW by April 2023.

APA increased the capacity of the pipeline to 70TJ/d (1.9mn m³/d) from 43TJ/d previously following a request from Snowy Hydro, the EIS shows.

There are further costs for the gas storage facilities for Kurri Kurri power plant, which Snowy Hydro management told an Australian Senate estimates committee will be around A$100mn. This means that total costs so far for the plant will be close to A$1bn. Kurri Kurri, also known as the Hunter power plant, will be able to run for around 10 hours before taking a day to fill up the gas storage tank and being ready to use again, according to the EIS.

This limited operational time will make the plant less competitive with other gas peaking plants, which are able to operate continuously, and may be less competitive than emerging battery peaking plants. "This larger gas storage pipeline configuration, combined with an ability to refill the majority of the gas storage pipeline over one day, provides for longer running hours on gas and reduces the probability of having to run the power station on liquid fuels," APA said.

Canberra has also promoted Kurri Kurri being hydrogen ready but the EIS states it will not be ready to produce or consume hydrogen. "Snowy Hydro have advised that the associated level of capital expenditure would be uneconomic, and consequently the storage pipeline will not be built to specifications that would enable it to store hydrogen blended fuel."

A significant increase in capital expenditure is required to build the storage pipeline for it to be capable of storing a hydrogen blended fuel, the EIS added. This is because of the dimensions of the pipeline and construction materials and methods required to offset the increased embrittlement of pipeline material when storing a hydrogen blended fuel.


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