Plans for first gas-fired baseload mooted in Oz
Australia’s Origin Energy plans to invest up to A$1 billion ($769 million) building a major gas-fired plant in Victoria, the country’s first gas-fired baseload plant. Origin is seeking regulatory approval for the 1 GW plant to be located near Mortlake in western Victoria and the company is also considering an alternative site in Southeast Queensland. At Mortlake the plant would be close to transmission links to the state’s biggest electricity consumer, the Alcoa Portland aluminium smelter, and only 100 km from Port Campbell, where the gas from Origin’s Casino field will come ashore. The approval processes could take up to 18 months.