Adelaide Advertiser
Saturday 16/6/2007 Page: 58
RENEWABLE energy should be used to power the proposed desalination plant near Whyalla to provide water for an expanded Olympic Dam mine, the city's council says.
Deputy Mayor Eddie Hughes said the proposed plant was a positive initiative, but the council did not want to see it creating increased greenhouse gas emissions. The State Government and BHP Billiton are examining a $300 million desalination plant to be built at the top of Spencer Gulf to service the Olympic Dam mine. BHP has been told it cannot take any water from the River Murray and has a cap on how much it can take from the Great Artesian Basin.
The new plant would provide up to 100 million megalitres of water for the mine and the nearby township of Roxby Downs. Water from the plant would also be piped to northern cities such as Whyalla as well as to the Eyre Peninsula. "The proposed plant will be the largest in the southern hemisphere and there is no practical or economic reason preventing the use of renewable energy," Mr Hughes said.
"WA has clearly demonstrated that a large desalination plant can easily meet its electricity needs through the use of renewable energy." The $400 million WA plant opened earlier this year is powered by a nearby wind farm. "We could see the writing on the wall over a decade ago on the future of the Murray," Mr Hughes said. "It made sense then and even more sense now to link renewable energy and desalination."
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