Bow’s proposed gas-fired power station, to be located in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, will comprise ten 3 megawatt (MW) J620 GE Jenbacher gas engines, which have proven efficiency and reliability on coal seam gas (CSG) operations in Australia.
The project is expected to be completed in early 2011, and will require approximately 2 petajoules (PJ) of gas per annum to be supplied from Bow’s nearby Blackwater CSG Field. The field has 1,340 PJ of 3P reserves certified to date. The project will serve as a model for Bow’s other projects, including the nearby Norwich Park Block.
Wherever possible, Clarke Energy will employ local contractors to complete the required civil, mechanical and electrical construction works. The number of people employed will be determined by the final design of the plant, however previous experience would indicate the onsite workforce will peak at around 30 on a project of this size and type. Many others, using an industry matrix of four to one, will be employed offsite on design, equipment manufacture, component supply and project management.
Clarke Energy designed and constructed a very similar project in 2006 – Arrow Energy’s CSG-fired Daandine Power Station, located in Daandine, Queensland, which involved eleven GE Jenbacher engines.
Clarke Energy will manage this work in line with proven project, safety and environment management plans, which will be developed in consultation with Bow Energy to ensure the project is executed in compliance with all legislative and local authority requirements.
Generating electricity from CSG is far less environmentally harmful than mining and burning coal for power generation. The key to this clean energy is the fact that the CSG is extracted from the coal seams through high-tech drilling techniques without necessarily mining the coal deposit. The clean-burning fuel source will abate power generated from coal-fired power stations and provide enough power for 30,000 homes.
Clarke Energy, as a group with over 2,000 MW worldwide and 320 MW worth of gas engines having been installed in Australia, has extensive experience in engine generator installation.