TRUenergy has announced it is seeking to invest in two new gas fired power stations in Queensland. The move has been welcomed by the Federal Government, describing the announcement as a welcome step towards meeting Australia’s energy needs through lower emissions generation.

 

TRUenergy announced the two power stations will be developed in Ipswich, close to projected population growth cemtres in South-East Queensland, and Gladstone, which the company hopes will service emerging industrial growth.

 

“We are proposing to develop the power stations using the newest natural gas-fired turbines, which will emit less carbon than existing coal-fired power plants,” TRUenergy’s Managing Director, Richard McIndoe, said.

 

“Queensland is the right state for these developments. The Australian Electricity Market Operator has forecast that the state will have a shortfall in energy reserves of between 341MW-779MW by 2013-2014.

 

“Additional investment in new power stations will be needed in order to meet the growing needs of households, business and industry.”

 

The power stations will be developed in stages to match the growth in electricity demand with the initial units sized at around 500MW and have a total capacity of up to 1500MW. They are expected to be able to meet the projected growth in demand for electricity in Queensland for the next 10 years and at full capacity they would increase the state’s generation capacity by a total of more than 20%.

 

The initial investment will be around $400 million and at full capacity each power station would represent an investment of up to $1.8 billion.

 

These proposed investments will help meet Queensland’s electricity demand, which the Australian Energy Market Operator forecasts to grow by 4.1% per annum over the next ten years.

 

The announcement by TRUenergy comes as the Federal Government has announced it is considering legislation that will ensure that increased international demand will not adversely effect domestic supply of gas.