W. Australia Burning Through 2 Million Liters Diesel/Day To Generate 20% Of State's Electricity

[hatrack]

WESTERN Australia's major energy producer, Verve Energy, is burning through an extra two million litres of diesel every day as it struggles to provide electricity during the state's severe gas shortage. Verve, which supplies electricity to the state's power retailer Synergy, has been burning distillate at some of its gas-fired plants to free up gas for the state's booming, energy-hungry industries, particularly mining.

Diesel usually powers just 1per cent of WA's energy production but in the three weeks since the Varanus Island pipeline explosion off the state's northwest coast cut 30 per cent of the state's gas supplies, distillate has become the fuel source for 20 per cent of production. "On the financial front, we are consuming a lot more diesel than we would like to under normal circumstances, and diesel being that much more expensive than coal-fired or gas-fired electricity means that it is going straight to our bottom line," Verve managing director Shirley In't Veld said yesterday.

"It's between one and two million litres of diesel that we wouldn't normally burn and that translates to about $3million a day that we wouldn't normally be spending on power generation. Hopefully we will soon be bringing on some coal-fired generation."

Diesel prices have hit record levels in WA, although not entirely on the back of the gas crisis. Some petrol stations were charging $1.90 a litre for diesel yesterday, up from about $1.72 a month ago. Verve has also run up losses of more than $100 million this financial year as a hangover from the state Government's break-up of Western Power. The energy producer is bringing back online coal-fired power stations that had been shut down for repair and recommissioning old power stations to help free up gas supplies, which were cut by 30 per cent in the wake of the June 3 explosion at Apache Energy's WA facility.

EDIT

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23918356-5006789,00.html

[phantom power]

1. Damn, I bet that's leaving a mark.

[hogwyld]

2. They won't start worrying until

They see Mad Max in the hinterlands...

[kestrel91316]

3. Such a pity they don't have any sun there for PV and thermoelectric power.....

[hatrack]

4. Yeah, I know what you mean. Such a gloomy, fogbound nation . . .

:eyes: