Sale of the Bell Bay Power Station Site - David Llewellyn, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Sale of the Bell Bay Power Station Site -


Minister for Energy, David Llewellyn, will ask for approval from both houses of Parliament for the sale of the Bell Bay Power Station Site.
It follows the announcement by Hydro Tasmania that it has agreed to terms with Alinta Energy (Tamar Valley) Pty Ltd for the purchase of Bell Bay Power Station site, including the Gas Turbines.
“The changes in the Tasmanian energy market haven’t stopped with the completion of Basslink, the rollout of gas and the reform of regulation and competition.
“Earlier this morning, the Australian Stock Exchange was informed that Alinta Energy Pty Ltd intends to buy the assets of Bell Bay Power at Bell Bay from Hydro Tasmania.
“I welcome this decision by Hydro Tasmania and Alinta for several reasons:
· It will make good use of the Bell Bay Power Station site;
· It will increase competition within Tasmania;
· It provides a good financial outcome for Hydro Tasmania;
· It will lead to an expansion of gas-generated electricity capacity; that will protect Tasmania from both periods of drought or a prolonged outage of Basslink.
“The old Bell Bay Power Station has served us well.
“It began as an oil fired supplementary generator in the 1960s during an earlier period of drought and then it was converted to run on natural gas when this became available and helped create sufficient demand for the gas pipeline project to go ahead in the first place.
“It has been important in providing energy, generation capacity, and ancillary services (such as frequency support).
“However, it is a very old plant and is arguably made redundant by the introduction of Alinta’s planned brand new, combined cycle gas plant in a few years’ time.
“The gas turbines, installed as emergency backup units in response to drought conditions and a delay in Basslink, will also be sold to Alinta.
Mr Llewellyn said Hydro Tasmania will continue to have effective use of the plant until Alinta’s Tamar Valley Gas Generator is commissioned.