Queensland’s first new gas-fired power station in years has moved a step closer, with Gina Rinehart-backed Senex Energy (ASX:SXY) agreeing to supply up to 58.4 petajoules of gas from its Atlas project in the Surat Basin to CS Energy’s proposed Brigalow Peaking Power Plant near Chinchilla in the Western Downs.
The Brigalow plant is planned adjacent to CS Energy’s Kogan Creek Power Station and near the Chinchilla Battery. Designed as a fast-start unit, the 400-megawatt peaker is expected to reach full output in under five minutes, providing capacity to power more than 150,000 Queensland homes during peak demand.
Senex chief executive Darren Stevenson said the company is investing more than US$1 billion in the Western Downs to support grid reliability for households and businesses. “With energy shortfalls forecast for the east coast in coming years, this agreement will add critical new supply to the domestic market when it’s needed most,” he said.
Queensland’s gas-fired generation capacity is forecast to be as high as 4.1 gigawatts by 2030, rising to between 6.1 GW and 8.3 GW by 2035.