Kurnell Desalination Plant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Kurnell Desalination Plant
Kurnell Desalination Plant is located in New South Wales
Location within New South Wales
Desalination plant
Location Kurnell, New South Wales
Coordinates 34°01′29″S 151°12′18″E / 34.02475°S 151.205136°E / -34.02475; 151.205136Coordinates: 34°01′29″S 151°12′18″E / 34.02475°S 151.205136°E / -34.02475; 151.205136
Estimated output 250 megalitres per day
Extended output 500 megalitres per day
Cost A$1.896 billion
Energy usage Between 225GWh and 900GWh annually[1]
Energy generation offset Capital Wind Farm, Bungendore, 450 GWh annually[2]
Technology Reverse osmosis
Percent of water supply 15% of Sydney
30% extended capacity
Operation date 28 January 2010 (28 January 2010)[3]

The Sydney Desalination Plant is a drinking water supply project operated by Veolia Water Australia Pty Ltd on behalf of SDP Pty Ltd. It is located in the Kurnell industrial estate area, in Sydney's southern suburbs. The desalination plant itself was built by the Blue Water Joint Venture, under contract to Sydney Water. The Blue Water Joint Venture comprised the plant constructor, John Holland Pty Ltd, and the operator, Veolia Water Australia Pty Ltd.

The plant uses reverse osmosis filtration membranes to remove salt from seawater and is powered using 100 percent renewable energy. The renewable energy is supplied to the national power grid from the Capital Wind Farm at Bungendore, NSW.

The Kurnell plant is the third major desalination plant built in Australia (after Kwinana in Perth which was completed in 2006 and Tugun on the Gold Coast which was completed in 2009). The plant is currently the largest operational desalination plant in Australia, however Victoria's Wonthaggi desalination plant (due to be completed in 2012), will be larger.

Contents

Decision to build [edit]

Sydney summers during the first decade of the 21st century saw significant declines of dam storage levels. A state of drought in the Sydney catchment areas existed between March 2001 and at least January 2007. Except for 1998, inflows into Warragamba Dam(Sydney's main dam) were below average from 1992 until 2006. The last time Sydney's dams were all 100% full was in 1998.[4] Between January 2004 and July 2007, Sydney's available water storage dropped below 55%.[5] Water supply levels reached their lowest recorded point on 9–10 February 2007 of 33.8%[6] In November 2009, water storage again dropped below 55%.[7]

In response to these problems, the NSW Government's 2006 Metropolitan Water Plan[8] identified desalination as a way of securing Sydney's water supply needs in the case of a severe, prolonged drought:

“ Given its total independence of rainfall, desalination can be used to secure supplies in the event of extreme drought. Following detailed investigations, the NSW Government has identified a preferred technology (reverse osmosis), purchased a site, sought planning approval and undertaken substantial preparatory works so that it can build a desalination plant if required. The probability of dam levels reaching the 30% level is very low,[9] but it is vital to ensure that Sydney's water needs can still be met should this situation occur.

In such a situation, a desalination plant would be constructed with a capacity of 125 million litres per day, but this could be increased to 500 million litres per day if required. Having the capacity to draw on desalination means that the Government will not need to impose drought restrictions on water use that are more stringent than those imposed when dams levels reached 40% in June 2005.[1]

 ”
 
— chapter 7 of the 2006 Metropolitan Water Plan (pg 78)

When operating at full capacity, the Sydney desalination plant will supply up to 15% of the drinking water supply to Sydney, the Illawarra and the Blue Mountains. It was the largest water supply project for Sydney, Australia's biggest city, since Warragamba Dam was opened in 1960 by the Sydney Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board. The desalination project was announced in February 2007, when Sydney dam levels dropped to 33.8% of total storage (just 3.8% higher than the adaptive trigger of "about 30% of dam storage levels" foreshadowed in the 2006 Metropolitan Water Plan), the lowest level reached since the drought that preceded the opening of Warragamba, in the 1940s and 1950s.

Other options to supplement Sydney's water supply were ruled out – a new dam was ruled out due to land availability and environmental reasons, drinking recycled waste water and stormwater was ruled out due to lack of community acceptance in Sydney, and rainwater tanks, although encouraged, would not supply enough reliable, potable water, to secure the water supply in times of drought and climate change.

Dam level update [edit]

After a period of heavy rainfall, Warragamba Dams' water storage levels were back up to 98.1% by early March 2012.[10]

Infrastructure and capacity [edit]

The original proposal was to build a plant with a 125 megalitre per day capacity that could be scaled up to 500 if necessary. The decision was made before building, that a 250 megalitre plant would be built instead, although still with the potential to be scaled up to 500.[11] The desalination plant is connected to the Tasman Sea via intake and outlet tunnels.[12] The plant is connected to the water supply by a pipeline under Botany Bay from Kurnell to Kyeemagh,[13] thence under Kogarah Golf Course,[14] along the northern shore of the Alexandra canal[15] and finally connecting to the Sydney supply tunnel near Ashmore street, Erskineville.[16]

At Erskineville, the drinking water delivered via the pipeline from Kurnell is delivered into the large City Water Tunnel connecting Potts Hill Reservoir, in western Sydney, to the Waterloo Pumping Station, in eastern Sydney. Off-take pipes along the length of the City Water Tunnel mean that, depending on demand, desalinated water will be fed into the drinking water supply throughout much of metropolitan Sydney. In the process, the desalination plant-supplied water will ease the drawdown on water from the city's surface storages including Warragamba Dam.

Both the tunnels to the sea and the pipeline to the water supply have been built to the ultimate capacity of 500 megalitres per day, so if the plant is ever expanded, the supporting infrastructure is already in place.

1.5 million Sydney residents south of Sydney Harbour and as far west as Bankstown are the direct consumers of the desalinated water.[17] The plant itself has its own water treatment facilities which means that all water entering the pipeline will be clean and potable.[18]

Initial operation [edit]

The plant operated continually for its first two years. It was due to close on 25 June 2012, but this was delayed to allow minor maintenance to be carried out. It was put into water security preservation mode from 1 July 2012.[19] Thereafter the plant will operate at full capacity whenever total dam storage levels fall below 70 percent until storage levels reach 80 percent.[20] As of 22 June 2012 (2012-06-22) the dams were at 96.4 per cent.[19]

Areas directly supplied with desalinated water [edit]

The local government areas that will directly receive the desalinated water are:[21]

According to the local council populations listed above, 1.5 million people have access to water from the desalination plant. The actual amount of people drinking the water would be less than this as some council areas are only partly in the zone covered by the plant.

Recycling plants being built [edit]

Sydney Water is also building large new recycling plants, that will also be able to recycle up to 70 gigalitres of waste water per year by the year 2015, for non-drinking purposes. These include the Western Sydney Replacement Flows plant being built at St Marys in Sydney's west, the Camellia Recycled Water plant in the central suburbs of Sydney's metropolitan area, and the large industrial recycling plant at Port Kembla, in Wollongong, NSW.

Cost [edit]

The total approved budget of the project was $1.896 billion and it was delivered on time and $60 million under this budget.[3]

Proposed leasing [edit]

In November 2011 the NSW State Government Treasurer Mike Baird called for registrations of interest for long term leasing of the desalination plant.[22]

Capital Wind Farm, Bungendore [edit]

Part of the Kurnell plant's cost was the construction of a wind farm to offset the energy usage of the plant with 100% renewable energy. The Capital Wind Farm at Bungendore was built for this purpose and has a nameplate capacity of 140 MW.

“ "The wind farm has been designed to produce more than enough energy to operate the desalination plant to cover the days when there is less wind. It will increase the supply of wind energy in NSW by over 700%. It is a massive boost to the renewable energy sector and an environmentally sensible way to offset the power needs of the desalination plant." [2] ”
 

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Independent Panel. Major Project: Kurnell Desalination Plant and Associated Infrastructure". 8 September 2006. p. 71. Retrieved 19 October 2011. 
  2. ^ "The Capital Wind Farm, Infigen Energy". Retrieved 19 October 2011. 
  3. ^ a b Sydney's desal plant switched on – Sydney Morning Herald, 2010-01-28.
  4. ^ Frequently asked questions – Drought, Sydney Catchment Authority, Retrieved 2010-01-29 (note some of the data on this page needs to be updated as it was written in January or February 2007)
  5. ^ "Water storage and supply report", 28 January 2010, Sydney Catchment Authority, Retrieved 2010-01-29
  6. ^ "Bulk water storage and supply report", 15 February 2007, Sydney Catchment Authority, Retrieved 2010-01-29
  7. ^ "Water storage and supply report", 26 November 2009, Sydney Catchment Authority, Retrieved 2010-01-29 (Report shows levels at 55%. Subsequent reports show decline)
  8. ^ Metropolitan Water Plan – NSW Government "Water For Life", www.waterforlife.nsw.gov.au, Retrieved 2010-01-29
  9. ^ This report was written before February 2007, when supply levels dropped to 33.9%
  10. ^ "Water storage and supply report" 8 November 2012, Sydney Catchment Authority, Retrieved 2012-03-09
  11. ^ "Sydney's Desalination Project at a glance". Sydney Water. Retrieved 2009-07-06. 
  12. ^ Kurnell map
  13. ^ Botany Bay map
  14. ^ Rockdale map
  15. ^ Tempe map
  16. ^ Alexandria/Erskineville map
  17. ^ Project overview, Sydney Water
  18. ^ "Desalination plant at Kurnell". Sydney Water. Retrieved 2009-07-06. 
  19. ^ a b Trembath, Murray (28 June 2012). "Desal plant to close down". St George & Sutherland Shire Leader (Fairfax Media). Retrieved 29 June 2012. 
  20. ^ "NSW Metropolitan Water Plan". Retrieved 29 September 2011. 
  21. ^ Areas to receive from desalination plant as part or all of their water supply (250ML a day) – sydneywater.com
  22. ^ Trembath, Murray (23 November 2011). "Scorned desal plant an 'asset'". St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader. Retrieved 8 March 2012. 

Sources [edit]

  • Sydney's desal plant switched on – Sydney Morning Herald, 2010-01-28.
  • Frequently asked questions – Drought – Sydney Catchment Authority – accessed 2010-01-29 (note some of the data on this page needs to be updated as it was written in January or February 2007)
  • Water storage and supply report – 28 January 2010 – Sydney Catchment Authority – accessed 2010-01-29
  • Bulk water storage and supply report – 15 February 2007 – Sydney Catchment Authority – accessed 2010-01-29
  • Water storage and supply report – 26 November 2009 – Sydney Catchment Authority – accessed 2010-01-29 (Report shows levels at 55%. Subsequent reports show decline)
  • Metropolitan Water Plan – NSW Government "Water For Life" – Accessed 2010-01-29
  • This report was written before February 2007, when supply levels dropped to 33.9%
  • Project overview, Sydney Water
  • "Desalination plant at Kurnell". Sydney Water. http://www.sydneywater.com.au/Water4Life/Desalination/. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  • Sydney gets its first taste of desalinated water – ABC News, 2010-01-28.
  • Areas to receive from desalination plant as part or all of their water supply (250ML a day) – sydneywater.com
  • Sydney's desal plant switched on – Sydney Morning Herald, 2010-01-28.

External links [edit]
Sydney region dams / resevoirs
Regional dams / reservoirs
Other water sources
  • Kurnell Desalination Plant
Companies and
government agencies
Regulators
Historical
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kurnell_Desalination_Plant&oldid=555271225"