Cost of keeping Adelaide desalination plant on standby blows out $11m a year
THE cost of maintaining the desalination plant at Port Stanvac on standby has blown out, figures show. Here’s how much it costs to keep it at “minimum production’’ levels.
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THE cost of maintaining the desalination plant at Port Stanvac has blown out by more than 30 per cent — or $11m a year — figures show.
The true cost of running the $1.8 billion plant has been revealed by SA Water in a letter to the State Parliament Budget and Finance Committee.
The plant is currently not producing any water as it is undergoing a three-month maintenance period.
According to initial SA Water estimates in 2013, keeping the plant in standby mode would cost $30 million a year.
However, the letter said standby mode would now cost $37 million — but that the plant would be run at a “minimum production’’ level, which costs around $41 million a year.
The plant will be run at a “its lowest capacity’’ of 30 megalitres of water a day for nine months of the year for a total annual production of 8 gigalitres, SA Water said.
The plant can provide 100 megalitres a year, but because the cost of desalinated water is significantly higher than other sources it is only operating at a minimum production level.
The cost to customers for Mt Lofty catchment water is 23c per 1000 litres, 44c for River Murray water and $1 for desalinated water.
The controversial desalination plant — which has been operating since 2011 — and the $400 million pipeline to connect it to the northern suburbs has seen water bills double.
Opposition leader Steven Marshall said householders were “sick of the Weatherill Labor Government’s water rip-off’’.
“Adelaide needed a desal plant, but we never needed the mothballed monster that Labor built and water consumers are paying for while it’s switched off,’’ he said.
Mr Marshall said the Government had to explain why there has been a blow out in the cost of keeping the plant on standby.
“That’s $11 million that could be spent keeping the Repat Hospital open or hiring more teachers for our schools,” he said.
An SA Water spokeswoman said the initial $30 million figure “was the best estimate we had of the cost to run the Adelaide desalination plant at the time”.
“The proving period allowed us to fully understand the operational costs, which will vary from year to year, depending on the level of maintenance required,’’ she said.
“Our proposal to operate the desalination plant in minimum production mode is driven by asset stewardship and the mitigation of operational and strategic supply risks, avoiding the operational difficulties of recommissioning the plant after an extended shutdown.’’