Another Babcock and Brown project

South Eastern Times
Thursday 8/3/2007 Page: 6

IT WAS interesting to read in the daily press this week that Babcock and Brown plan to invest another $350 million in South Australia to build a new power station. The international bankers were responsible for the construction of the majority of the windfarms along the Woakwine Range overlooking Lake Bonney, and the project is now the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

Their local two stage project cost around $460 million and poured millions into the local economy through the of shoots during the construction stage, and the windfarms continue to assist the local farming community- There is also another two stages planned by Babcock and Brown, north of the present turbines - so there is more to come down the track for the local economy.

The Millicent area have a lot to thank Paul Hutchinson and the Babcock and Brown management for selecting the Woakwine Range for their project, and now it seems the Mallala region, just north of Adelaide, will benefit.

The company will later this month apply to the Development Assessment Commission (DAC) to build a 450MW gas-fired peaking power station. It has already been endorsed by the State Government as a "public infrastructure development" under section 49 of the Development Act.

If and when it is approved, along with another being planned for the Mid North, the two power stations will be the State's second and third biggest, behind the Torrens Island generator. When completed the Mallala site will be operated by Flinders Power - a subsidiary of B&B.

Babcock and Brown would have been happy to receive the government's quick endorsement of the project and having a direct line through to the DAC. Going back a number of years ago when the company first mooted the construction of the local windfarms to the government there were numerous holdups due to the bureaucrats "stalling" the venture. One would now hope it is pure sailing for B&B on their new venture, and the same occurs when the next stages of the Lake Bonney Windfarm begin.