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I guess BHP might have the inside running on some new North West Shelf gas supplies, but at the moment there isn't a lot to spare.
Given that the mine life for Olympic Dam looks like being way out into the future, it seems a bit strange to suggest becoming dependent on a resource which probably won't be available in 30 years time (and will become ever more expensive during that time).
Why not just build a large CSP plant in the desert there ? 700 MW is easy enough to do. Maybe build one towards the coast and one at Olympic Dam, just to get some extra resiliency in those rare cases a cloud appears.
Gav I believe you've already linked to the Solar Oasis CSP plan at Whyalla with ammonia dissociation storage. This link doesn't give the output http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21399776-5006301,00.htm...
but I recall it was under 50 Mw ie nowhere near what BHP is seeking. (BTW the 91 Mw wind farm opposite on the gulf was largely becalmed during the heatwave) Some might say the solar plant should make ammonium nitrate explosives for Olympic Dam instead. Rann seems to have cooled on this idea giving credence to the idea that he is a closet nukularist who is afraid to come out. He wants the mining royalties but not major outlays or liability.
That area is one of the 'hottest' on the energy scene not just because of mines or A-bomb sites. It is no doubt factored into the pending nuclear revival ('entente formidable') therefore remains in the spotlight. I say build both an off-the-shelf nuke and an experimental CSP plant and learn as you go.
As long as BHP are paying for it I don't really care that much if they want to eat their own vomit (as the saying goes) - but I think we're better off getting CSP experience.
I'll be doing a post on the ammonia plant one day but that wasn't what I had in mind - something more along the 300 MW class plants being built in California, Nevada and Spain...