Investec Bank Plans to Develop Gas-Fired Power Generation in South Australia

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Australia (Perth, Australia)--Investec Bank (Sydney, Australia), a global asset management company, is developing plans to construct and possibly part-own a 250-megawatt (MW), gas-fired peaking power station in South Australia, with the potential to expand to 1,000 MW.

The Cherokee power plant will be located at Tepko, approximately eight kilometers southwest of Mannum, and is specifically planned to meet the predicted demand of electricity in the South Australian market over the next five to 10 years.

The proposed gas-fired plant will be a major source of peaking power for South Australia, and the generating units will be connected into the Tungkillo substation, a major substation for four major 275-kilovolt lines servicing Adelaide.

The Cherokee power station, especially at full design capacity, will play a key role in supporting the retirement of South Australia's coal-fired generators. South Australia aims to increase its share of renewable and low-carbon power; at maximum capacity, the Cherokee power station will meet up to 25% of the state's peak demand.

The project will be developed in stages. The first stage of the project involves installation of a 250-MW unit at a cost of $207.22 million. The unit will utilize one or more combustion turbines in an open cycle configuration, and is scheduled to come online in 2014.

The Cherokee power station will be built by the Tungkillo Powerco Pty Limited (Adelaide, Australia), a wholly owned subsidiary of Investec. Development approval was granted in November 2010, and a final investment decision is expected in the first quarter of 2013.

Investec will seek and select a turn-key engineering, procurement and construction contractor, which will release bid documents through the second quarter of 2013. Construction of the first phase is tentatively scheduled to kick off in June 2013, with a construction period of 12 to 18 months. Completion of the final stage, ramping the plant up to 1,000 MW, is expected in 2021.

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