Kwinana Cogeneration Plant

Kwinana Cogeneration Plant is located 40 kilometres south of Perth, Western Australia. It provides steam and electrical power to the BP Australia Kwinana Oil Refinery and electricity only to Synergy, the State owned generator/retailer.

As a cogeneration plant, Kwinana supplies both steam and electrical power to its two customers. Steam production from the plant comes predominantly from the waste heat from the gas turbine exhausts and is supported by burning refinery fuel gas from the BP Refinery using 'Duct Burners' inside the Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG). The steam produced drives a steam turbine, further enhancing the plant's efficiency, with BP's steam supply coming from the extraction port on the steam turbine after some pressure and temperature has been lost.

Kwinana produces 119MW of electricity,^[1] or approximately 6% of Western Australia's requirements.^[2] It is primarily fueled by natural gas from Western Australia's North West Shelf gas fields and delivered to the plant by the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline. The plant is certified for its environmental practices (ISO 14001), quality assurance (ISO 9001) and health and safety (AS4801 & BS18001).

History[]

Edison Mission Energy commenced construction of the Plant in 1994 and it was commissioned and entered commercial operation in December 1996.

The Kwinana plant is now jointly owned by GDF SUEZ and Mitsui & Co., Ltd and RATCH-Australia. The partnership trades as the Perth Power Partnership, with GDF SUEZ Australian Energy and Mitsui & Co., Ltd owning 70 per cent and RATCH-Australia owning 30 per cent.

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