Barker Inlet Power Station is a power station in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It was announced on 7 June 2017 by

AGL Energy AGL Energy Ltd () is an Australian listed public company involved in both the generation and retailing of electricity and gas for residential and commercial use. AGL is Australia's largest electricity generator, and the nation's largest carbo ...

to replace part of its ageing

Torrens Island Power Station Torrens Island Power Station is located on Torrens Island, near Adelaide, South Australia and is operated by AGL Energy. It burns natural gas in eight steam turbines to generate up to 1,280 MW of electricity. The gas is supplied via the SEAGas ...

and was built alongside the existing station on

Torrens Island Torrens Island is an island in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Adelaide metropolitan area in the Port River Estuary about northwest of the Adelaide city centre. Since European settlement of Adelaide in 1836, it has b ...

in the northwestern suburbs of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. The power station was commissioned on 4 November 2019.

Construction and development

Construction was expected to start in the third quarter of 2017, with commissioning in the first quarter of 2019, however that start date passed before the development application had been submitted. Construction was announced to begin on 5 February 2018 and expected to be operational in the second half of 2019. The new power station is expected to be 28% more efficient than the oldest gas turbines at Torrens island, and can ramp from zero to full capacity in five minutes. The application for Development Approval to build the new power station as a replacement for Torrens Island A was submitted on 3 October 2017 and published for public comment on 8 November 2017. The application is for two stages, each consisting of 12

reciprocating engines A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common featu ...

. Each stage is proposed to generate 210MW for a total of 420MW. Only Stage 1 was constructed in 2019. The new generating units have a fast response time of five minutes from startup to full capacity, enabling a quick response to reductions in wind and solar power generation. The power station can be stopped in less than a minute, enabling rapid response to increase of renewable energy production.

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technol ...

is the principal contractor for the development. Wärtsilä supplied 12 of its 50DF dual-fuel reciprocating engines. They are expected to operate primarily on natural gas, but are capable of operating on liquid fuel if required. The characteristics of the engines enable the power station to respond to fluctuations in supply from renewable energy power sources such as wind turbines.

Primero Primero (in English also called Primus, ', or in Italian '' or Spanish ''Primera'')'', is a 16th-century gambling card game of which the earliest reference dates back to 1526. Primero is closely related to the game of primo visto (a.k.a. prima-vi ...

is contracted by Wärtsilä to undertake the actual construction and was expected to compete it in September 2019. The power station was officially opened on 4 November 2019.

References

Natural gas-fired power stations in South Australia Buildings and structures in Adelaide {{SouthAustralia-struct-stub

Construction and development

See also

References