The Queensland government-owned gentailer CS Energy has agreed to sell a majority stake in the proposed Brigalow peaking power plant to enable the delivery of what will be the state’s first gas-fired peaking power generator to be built in a decade.
Listed gas transmission and generation outfit APA Group has agreed to buy 80 per cent of the 400 MW Brigalow peaking gas project, and will lead delivery of the plant. CS Energy will operate and maintain the plant once it is commissioned in early 2029 and retain a 20 per cent ownership interest.
The gas-fired power generator will be built alongside CS Energy’s existing Kogan Creek Power Station and the 100 MW/200 megawatt-hour (MWh) Chinchilla Battery, and in area rich with renewable and other storage projects, and some grand plans by aspiring data centre operators, including for the biggest in the country.
Early project works have already been completed for the Brigalow gas plant, after CS Energy and APA Group signed a joint development agreement late last year.
GE Vernova will deliver the gas turbines for the project, leading Australian engineering group Monadelphous will provide balance of plant work, and APA will itself deliver a 23-kilometre gas pipeline to connect the power plant to the existing Roma Brisbane pipeline.
Australian gas company Senex, jointly owned by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, will supply up to 58.4 petajoules of natural gas from its Atlas development in the Surat Basin.
The announcement is just the latest evidence of the Queensland LNP government’s shift away from supporting renewables to focus instead on gas-fired power and maintaining what will soon be the largest coal fleet in Australia.
CS Energy CEO Stephen Harty said the Brigalow proposal aligned with the Queensland LNP’s Energy Roadmap’s requirement for more dispatchable electricity that can be switched on quickly in response to demand.
“Flexible gas generation has an important role to play in Queensland’s future energy mix because it can provide longer duration firming support with significantly less emissions than coal-fired generation,” said Harty.
CS Energy in June sold its stake in the Boulder Creek wind farm, even though it will continue to offtake 100 per cent of the energy generated by the 228 MW wind farm.
The Australian Financial Review also reported earlier this month that CS Energy is “in advanced talks” to sell the Lotus Creek wind farm to Tilt Renewables.
CS Energy is not the only state-owned energy company backing out of equity investments in the Queensland wind energy industry. State owned utility CleanCo backed out of a deal in January to acquire the 360 MW Moah Creek wind farm.
Similarly, Stanwell, another state-owned utility, announced in February its own decision to transfer its option to acquire the 436 MW Tarong West wind project to Innergreen, a private investor that will now partner RES in the project’s development.
CleanCo and Stanwell have nevertheless retained future offtake options for both wind farms.
To join more than 29,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.
