AGL's Torrent Island Power Station Plans Maintenance, Improvement Programs for 2013-2014

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Australia (Perth, Australia)--Torrens Island Power Station (TIPS), which is owned by energy generator AGL Energy Limited (New South Wales, Australia), is planning major maintenance and upgrades to the boiler control system for its six operational natural gas units in 2013 and 2014.

Torrens Island is the largest power station in South Australia (SA), supplying up to 1,280 megawatts (MW) of electricity into the SA electricity network. The power station features eight steam turbines with two different sets of configurations, called the 'TIPS A' and 'TIPS B' units, which feature four 120-MW 'A' units and four 200-MW 'B' units, each equipped with Parsons steam turbines.

According to the plant manager at Torrens, the power station will undergo major maintenance on two of its four 'TIPS A' units during 2013 and 2014. Each of these two units will undergo 13- to 14-week outages that will involve major inspections and repairs on all areas of the units. The outages will cost the company approximately $20 million.

All four TIPS B units will have instrumentation and control-system upgrades in 2013 and 2014.

Additionally, AGL is planning a 700-MW expansion at the existing Torrens Power Station, to bring the total capacity of the plant to 1,980 MW.

The proposed plan is to add four "E" class gas turbines, each with capacities of between 120 MW and 190 MW. According to AGL, the expansion plant will act as a peak load generator and will be operate only 15% of the time in a year.

This power project is part of AGL's $800 million Energy Park Concept, which will involve the construction of a gas storage facility comprising a liquefied natural gas (LNG) production plant, a storage tank, and re-gasification units that convert LNG to pipeline-quality gas.

AGL also is considering future developments that could include geothermal and/or solar power plants.

The project has received approvals from Crown Development and Public Infrastructure in November 2010 and is currently under review by AGL's board, which will make the final decisions on the development plans.

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