The Premier John Brumby today turned the first sod on a new $640 million gas-fired power station near Mortlake, marking the start of a vital project that will boost jobs and energy security for Victorians.
At Mortlake, Mr Brumby said Origin Energy’s new power station would significantly increase Victoria’s energy security and deliver a major boost to the region’s economy, with more than 350 people to be employed during construction.
“The Mortlake Power Station is delivering jobs now and helping to build a cleaner energy future for Victoria,” Mr Brumby said. “The Mortlake Power Station is delivering jobs now and helping to build a cleaner energy future for Victoria.”
“The 550MW gas-fired Mortlake station will be used to meet electricity needs at peak demand times, such as on hot summer days. And when it is operating, it will produce enough power to supply up to 250,000 homes.
“It will help meet Victoria’s future electricity demand as our population continues to grow and by producing half the greenhouse gas emissions of a brown coal generator, it reinforces that our state is leading the way in the development of new clean energy sources.”
Mr Brumby and Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor joined Origin Energy representatives to turn the first sod and mark the start of construction.
The first stage will involve building a new plant and facilities. Origin Energy has an option to further expand the power station, which would take the overall investment to $1 billion, create more jobs and further reduce greenhouse emissions.
Mr Brumby said the plant would be supplied with natural gas from a dedicated gas transmission pipeline from the new gas processing plant being built at Port Campbell as part of the Otway Gas Project.
“Work on this pipeline is underway with 100 local trades people already employed to construct a pipeline to Mortlake,” he said.
“This is an exciting time for the south-west – because projects like this secure jobs. They also support the record investment our Government is making in renewable energy developments such as solar and wind energy, clean coal technologies and carbon capture and storage.”
Mr Batchelor said in addition to construction jobs, stage one of the power station would provide on-going employment for about five people, and up to 30 people once stage two is complete.
“Origin Energy has plans to further expand the power station and that will provide another 500MW of power, taking the plant’s capacity to over 1000MW,” Mr Batchelor said.
“The Mortlake Power Station, alongside Santos’ proposed Shaw River gas-fired plant, wind and potentially geothermal projects, are making the south west Victoria’s new clean energy hub.”