COM: Port Stanvac Desalination Plant | 100gL | $1.8b

[frank1]

November 11, 2008 02:40pm

THE proposed desalination plant at Port Stanvac is unlikely to have any "measurable adverse impacts" on Gulf St Vincent, according to an official report.

The State Government environmental impact statement on the proposed $1.37 billion plant was released today by Planning Minister Paul Holloway and Water Security Minister Karlene Maywald.

The statement will now be released for public consultation and a public meeting on the issue is planned for next Monday at the Hallett Cove Baptist Community Centre.

Ms Maywald said the EIS addressed more than 100 separate environmental, social and economic issues identified in preliminary planning of the project.

She said these included potential impacts on the marine environment, climate change, construction impacts and land contamination.

The report says that the plant's intake and outfall pipelines will have no impact on the tidal movements in the gulf and will not interfere with sediment or sensitive coastal features.

"The EIS demonstrates that all potential environmental, social and economic impacts of the proposed desalination plant can be adequately avoided, mitigated or managed," the report says.

Ms Maywald told reporters that there would be increased water charges to cover the costs of the plant but the full extent of those increases would not be known until the actual construction costs had been determined.

She also denied claims by the Greens that the plant operator would charge SA Water a fee for closing down the plant when there was too much water in the system from heavy rainfall.

[Aidan]

ok you guys, here's a challenge - see which S-A member can come up with the "least disruptive" route for the pipeline get onto google maps and show them how it should be done!

least disruptive = least traffic nightmares, least compulsory housing purchase, etc...

Without a map showing trunk main locations, I'm not going to map it, but I will tell you how it should be done:

Split it in two!. Have the (smaller) Port Stanvac desalinator serve the southern suburbs, and build a second one somewhere between Dry Creek and Port Gawler. Pump hypersaline water from northern desalinator into evaporation pans.

[Wayno]

ok you guys, here's a challenge - see which S-A member can come up with the "least disruptive" route for the pipeline get onto google maps and show them how it should be done!

least disruptive = least traffic nightmares, least compulsory housing purchase, etc...

Without a map showing trunk main locations, I'm not going to map it, but I will tell you how it should be done:

Split it in two!. Have the (smaller) Port Stanvac desalinator serve the southern suburbs, and build a second one somewhere between Dry Creek and Port Gawler. Pump hypersaline water from northern desalinator into evaporation pans.

now you're thinkin' outside the square! good one!! not sure if it makes sense - but i like the innovation

[Pat28]

oh the logic is painful - two desal plants who'd of thought

[peas_and_corn]

Wouldn't it cost more per megalitre to run two desal plants than to run one large desal plant? Yes the pile infrastructure is somewhat costly, but doesn't economy of scale take care of this? On that note, I've noticed that the desal plant seems a little... small. I would have thought that making it have capacity that outstrips what we need now would be ideal as population will expand...

[Norman]

The plant is easily expandable to double the capacity (to 50% of Adelaide AFAIK), and the state has already applied for federal funding for this.

[AG]

Spanish consortium leads desal plant bidding
CAMERON ENGLAND
February 15, 2009 09:46pm

A CONSORTIUM, including Spain's Acciona and Adelaide's United Utilities, is understood to be firm favourite to build the $1.37 billion desalination plant at Port Stanvac.

A source close to the bidding process, which has involved three groups, said the State Government had focused on one proposal.

The Government had been working with the Acciona-led Adelaide Aqua team. High-ranking Acciona executives are understood to have visited Adelaide as negotiations entered the final stages.

The U.S. website Water Desalination Report also states Adelaide Aqua is in exclusive negotiations with the Government over the project.

The Government is expected to announce the preferred bidder soon, with contracts completed by the end of the month.

All bidders are understood to have been working around the clock on their proposals, following the Government moving the time line for the project ahead a year.

The winning bidder will have to be prepared to hit the ground running, with the Government hoping for an official beginning of the development next month.

The desal plant is expected to supply Adelaide with up to 25 per cent of its water needs and is scheduled to be commissioned in December next year.

SA Water has been considering tender documents submitted by three bidders since December.

A spokesman for Treasurer Kevin Foley said a decision was imminent but he could not confirm which consortium would be awarded the contract.

"There is already work which has started on the site, ahead of the awarding of the successful tender," the spokesman said.

Acciona had revenues of $15.5 billion in 2007 and has divisions covering infrastructure, energy and logistics. McConnell Dowell, in the Adelaide Aqua bidding team, last month was awarded the contract to build the transfer pipeline for the desal project.

[Wayno]

Acciona had revenues of $15.5 billion in 2007 and has divisions covering infrastructure, energy and logistics. McConnell Dowell, in the Adelaide Aqua bidding team, last month was awarded the contract to build the transfer pipeline for the desal project.

Anyone have any info on the proposed pathway for the transfer pipeline? it's been too quiet!

[SRW]

Anyone have any info on the proposed pathway for the transfer pipeline? it's been too quiet!

Old media release from Minister Maywald's office, with relevant passage highlighted:

Contract approved for desalination transfer pipeline
16 December 2008

The State Government has today announced the successful tenderer to construct the transfer pipeline from the Adelaide Desalination Plant to the Happy Valley Water Treament Plant.

The contractor selected to design and build the pipeline system is a joint venture between McDonnell Dowell Constructors Pty Ltd and Built Environs Pty Ltd. A contract will be signed this month.

Minister for Water Security Karlene Maywald says awarding the contract is an important step in fast-tracking the desalination plant, ensuring that essential detailed design and procurement can begin.

"Construction of the transfer pipeline will begin in mid-2009, with an aim to ensure the infrastructure is ready, tested and commissioned prior to first water delivery in December 2010,” she said.

“Desalinated water will be pumped through the pipeline to Happy Valley, where it will be combined with water from the treatment plant before entering the existing water supply network.

“SA Water adopted an Early Contractor Involvement process which has ensured critical environmental and community issues can be included within the contractors’ proposal.

“A stringent assessment criteria was set in place for selection of the contractor and included input from environmental, social, economic and technological experts associated with the project.

“The Government has fast-tracked this project to further secure Adelaide’s water supply into the future and the project team is continuing to work hard to ensure desalinated water can be delivered to Adelaide, for the first time, by late 2010.”

SA Water has identified a preferred corridor for the transfer pipeline between Port Stanvac and the Happy Valley Water Treatment Plant. The corridor has been chosen to minimise impacts, and the transfer pipeline will be:

• Buried, largely within road verges, and located a suitable distance from residential areas, shops, schools and other community facilities to minimise community impacts during construction.
• Avoiding residential streets and will not traverse privately-owned property.

The contractors will tunnel under major road and rail crossings and will also build a pipe-bridge across the Field River to avoid disruption to traffic and environmental impacts. A range of surveys, geotechnical, heritage and flora and fauna studies are underway to determine a more specific pipeline route.

Yesterday, the State Government requested Expressions of Interest from suitably qualified suppliers for provision of electricity, renewable energy, carbon permits and carbon offsets for the Adelaide Desalination Plant.

I don't expect to see any information until next year about the separate (and more contentious) interconnector pipeline from Happy Valley to the northern reservoirs. The bushfires in Victoria have shown, IMO, just how important it is to have flexibility in the water supply (they've had to shunt water from fire-adjacent reservoirs to others to prevent contamination of the water), so however disruptive it is likely to be to eastern suburbs residents, the project must proceed.

[joshzxzx]

February 19, 2009 11:03am

A SPANISH company will build Adelaide's $1.37 billion desalination plant at Port Stanvac, Premier Mike Rann has announced.

Mr Rann said Acciona Agua would start construction of the plant at the end of April, with the first water flowing in December next year.
The plant would have an initial capacity of 50 billion litres but would have the ability to be extended to 100 billion litres, he said.

Mr Rann said the plant would be able to provide Adelaide with one quarter of its annual water use.

MORE TO COME

[mattblack]

He also said that it will probably be called The Adelaide Desalination Plant and that he couldn't see to much controversy arising from the name, tounge in cheek

[Shuz]

I think it'll just be called Port Stanvac Desalination Plant if anything.

[mattblack]

I think it'll just be called Port Stanvac Desalination Plant if anything.

Lets not start a discussion on the name of this one

[muzzamo]

I think it'll just be called Port Stanvac Desalination Plant if anything.

Lets not start a discussion on the name of this one

I think its a waste of prime real estate and we should be building a stadium there instead :-p

[skyliner]

Of interest to all - here in QLD they have JUST BUILT A FULL SIZED DESAL PLANT. Lo and behold - shut in 2 months - the reason....cutting corners to save expenses - poor quality valves are scaling up and impeding water supply.This is a disgusting and very expensive scenario to rectify. If we were still in the drought this would have finished us off as the recycled water plant was also suffering bad scaling and our natural water would all be gone except for the recent rains. Lots of chips being spat around.

One only hopes that the Adelaide plant is built properly - not cut short due to economic constraints.

ADELAIDE - CITY ON THE MOVE