Wind power cost already factored

Daily Advertiser
16/10/2007 Page: 7

POWERING Sydney's desalination plant with expensive wind energy has already been factored into a water bill increase for Sydney households, the NSW government says. The government yesterday called for proposals to supply the wind energy for the $1.7 billion plant. It is anticipated that 75 wind turbines will be needed to power the plant when it is operating at maximum output of 250 million litres of fresh water each day.

It comes after Water Utilities Minister Nathan Rees said in July that the plant would be 100 per cent wind powered. Premier Morris Iemma said the government acknowledged wind energy was more expensive than that derived from coal or gas. But, he said, its cost had been included by Sydney Water in its Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) application to increase water bills to pay for the plant. "The price for the desal is in the submission that Sydney Water has made to IPART," Mr Iemma told reporters in Sydney yesterday. "It's around $100 to $110 per household per annum."