Page 9 - AsiaElec Week 43

AsiaElec GAS-FIRED GENERATION AsiaElec
Origin Energy renews gas commitment in South Australia
AUSTRALIA
ORIGIN Energy has renewed its commitment to supply gas to support 240 MW of generating capacity at Engie Australia’s Pelican Point ther- mal power plant (TPP) for four years from July 1, 2020.
Origin Energy will also act as offtaker, giving it 240 MW of electricity for sale to its retail cus- tomers in South Australia.
“Pelican Point is one of the most efficient gas plants in the National Electricity Market and has made a major contribution to energy security in South Australia over the past two years, helping to keep the lights on and keeping downwards pressure on prices,” Origin’s executive general manager Energy Supply and Operations Greg Jarvis said.
“With a lot of solar and wind coming online over the next few years, Pelican Point will play a key role in firming the rapid growth of renewa- bles, particularly during the evening peaks when the most stress is placed on the system.
“Our current agreement with Engie brought this unit at Pelican Point back online when it was urgently needed to stabilise the South Australian market and in that time, that unit alone has met
about 10% of the state’s demand,” he said.
In 2017, Origin and Engie announced a three-year agreement for Origin to supply gas to the latter’s second Pelican Point unit and to
access 240 MW of electricity production.
The new arrangement is anticipated to com- mence when the current agreement expires on
1 July, 2020, and continue until 30 June, 2024. Under the terms of the renewed agreements, Origin will continue to pay charges and supply gas to Engie Australia in order to support elec- tricity generation at Pelican Point, for the benefit
of customers in South Australia.
While committing to gas, Origin also aims to
decarbonise its operations.
Earlier in October, the company said it
intended to have 25% of its capacity come from renewables and storage by 2020.
The company also aims to reduce its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 50% by 2032, and its Scope 3 emissions by 25%. Yet the company warned that Australia’s Paris Agreement com- mitment to reduce emissions by 26-28% from 2005 levels was not sufficiently ambitious to limit global warming to 1.5°C or less.™
Woodside delays Browse FID, brings forward Pluto LNG expansion
AUSTRALIA
AUSTRALIA’S Woodside Energy has delayed a final investment decision (FID) on its proposed Browse mega-project to the second half of 2021.
However, the company has also brought plans to approve its Scarborough gas project and Pluto LNG expansion forward slightly.
An FID on the $20.5bn Browse project was previously expected in late 2020, but has had to be delayed amid ongoing negotiations between Woodside and its partners in the scheme.
There is only some overlap in ownership between the Browse gas field and the related North West Shelf LNG project. Woodside, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Japanese firms Mitusbishi and Mitsui & Co.
++Meanwhile, Chevron and BHP have inter- ests in the LNG project, and PetroChina owns a stake in the Browse field. Woodside said it still expected the partners to be able to start front- end engineering design (FEED) work for Browse by the end of this year following delays.
The company had been planning to approve
the Pluto LNG expansion and Scarborough pro- ject in the first half of 2020, but now says the FID will come in the early part of that year.
The expedited timetable for the Scarborough project is dependent on Woodside reaching an agreement with partner BHP on a price for pro- cessing gas from the field at the Pluto facility.
Woodside’s chief financial officer, Sherry Duhe, told Reuters that there was pressure on BHP to finalise a tolling agreement before the end of the year. The miner also has an option to increase its stake in Scarborough by 10% to 35%, which expires on December 31.
“We’re just haggling on the final bit of pric- ing on the toll,” Duhe said. “Time is definitely working in all of our favour now to just go ahead and ink that deal so that we can move to FID in early next year on both Scarborough and Pluto.” Woodside also reported third-quarter revenue of $1.16bn on October 17, which was unchanged from a year earlier. Higher production was offset by weaker LNG prices during the quarter.™
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