More power from Kemerton upgrade

Transfield Services has upgraded the Kemerton Power Station's output by more than 40 megawatts in high summer temperatures, ahead of schedule and in time to support Western Australia's increasing energy needs.

The environmentally-friendly upgrade retrofitted wet compression technology so that the power station can operate at more than 300 megawatts during summer. The power station recently produced its maximum cool weather performance of 344 megawatts to meet a surge in winter demand.

This technology improves Kemerton Power Station's overall efficiency while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to four tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per hour of operation.

Transfield Services delivered the upgrade as manager, operator and maintainer of the power station for Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund.

Transfield Services Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Peter Watson, said today: "The Kemerton Power Station upgrade was delivered ahead of schedule. It started operating immediately and at full capacity in response to an increase in energy demanded from Verve Energy on the SWIS network."

The project was completed under budget and ahead of schedule.

The innovative technology involves spraying water into an air inlet of the gas turbine to cool the air. The water droplets then pass through a compressor and evaporate to cool the air inside the compressor. This makes the compressor more efficient and makes more power available to generate electricity.

Verve Energy Managing Director, Ms Shirley In't Veld said: "Transfield Services delivered a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly solution to Western Australia's increasing energy needs. Another 10,000 households are benefiting since this upgrade."

Kemerton Power Station is a peaking station that provides a highly reliable and rapid response to start requests. It takes eleven minutes to reach full capacity. Primarily run on gas, the power station has a dual fuel capacity and can run on liquid fuel if gas is unavailable. The power station is currently running on both gas and liquid fuel.

Kemerton Power Station is located near Bunbury in Western Australia and services the South West Interconnected System from Kalbarri in the north, east to Kalgoorlie and south to Albany.