An Australian power generator has selected the gas turbines it will utilize as a means to provide resource adequacy at times of renewable intermittency.
Snowy Hydro Ltd is building the 660MW Hunter Power Project in New South Wales and has selected Mitsubishi Power to supply two of its M701F gas turbines and auxiliary equipment.
Snowy Hydro is hoping to complete the Hunter plant and begin commercial operations in 2023. The project includes two heavy-duty, open-cycle gas turbines (OCGT), which will have the potential for up to 15 percent hydrogen co-firing.
Australia is shutting down its large-scale Liddell coal-fired power plant in the coming years and working to replace that with lower carbon-emitting resources such as natural gas, solar, wind and energy storage.
Hunter Valley is about 120 kilometers north of Sydney. Mitsubishi Power will manufacture the gas turbines at its Takasago Machinery Works in Japan. The generators will be made by Mitsubishi Electric Corp.
Coal is still king in Australia, where it generated 54 percent of the nation’s electricity in 2020. The nation, however, is embracing solar and energy storage projects and plans to close the Liddell station by 2023.
The Mont Piper coal-fired plant also is planned by retirement by 2040, three years ahead of initial closure plans.
Resource adequacy, of course, is a key concern, so the Australian government will build gas-fired power to aid capacity after the coal-fired closure.
