Origin Energy Cancels Maintenance at Mount Stuart Power Plant in Australia

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Perth, Australia)--Origin Energy Limited (New South Wales, Australia) has cancelled plans to conduct maintenance on one of its units at the Mount Stuart power station. Mount Stuart is a natural gas-fired power plant built by Origin Energy in 1998 in Townsville, Queensland. The power plant is equipped with three combustion turbines and produces 414 megawatts (MW) of electricity for the residents of Townsville.

In 2008, Origin Energy built the power plant with two Mitsubishi combustion turbines, each generating 144 MW of electricity. Later in 2010, Origin Energy, along with the Technology provider GE Energy (Victoria, Australia), completed an expansion project by adding a GE 126-MW combustion turbine. GE also provided engineering, procurement and construction services for the project.

Origin Energy planned for a $5 million, six-week maintenance outage at one of the units, which included repairs to the 144-MW Mitsubishi Heavy Industries heavy frame combustion turbine, Melco generator and other equipment. However, Origin Energy had to cancel the maintenance outage on the plant due to issues relating to funding.

"The project will no longer proceed due to lack of financial approvals," said Laurie Korn, plant manager for the Mount Stuart power station. Laurie added that the company is forecasting no major maintenance on any of the units at Mount Stuart until 2014.

Origin Energy will conduct minor outages at the plant to meet the demand for any ongoing maintenance requirements in the future.

Together with Mount Stuart, Origin Energy operates six natural gas power stations across Australia, contributing to an overall supply of 2,100 MW of electricity to different parts of the country.

In addition, Origin Energy is working on developing a 550-MW natural gas power station in New South Wales, which is in the early stages of development. Industrial Info is tracking several renewable energy projects involving Origin Energy that are in various development stages.

Origin Energy's development portfolio for clean energy generation includes the 1,800-MW PNG Purari River Hydro Plant, which will be located in Papua New Guinea. The project is a joint venture between Origin Energy and PNG Sustainable Development Program Limited (Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea), which is in the early stages of planning, with construction tentatively scheduled to begin in 2015.

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