Australia

Ontario Teachers and UTA acquire TIF’s Sydney desalination plant stake – Ontario

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and the Utilities Trust of Australia (UTA) have increased their ownership stakes in the Sydney Desalination Plant (SDP) to 60% and 40% respectively.

Ontario Teachers and Morrison & Co, on behalf of UTA, said they have increased their holdings in SDP with their acquisition of The Infrastructure Fund’s (TIF) ownership stake in the plant. Financial details were undisclosed.

SPD, which is Sydney’s only non-rain dependent source of drinking water, supplies up to 15% of the Australian city’s needs.

Gradiant Expands into Australia with Acquisition of CRS Water – Australia

Gradiant today announced its acquisition of Sydney based CRS Water Pty. Ltd, marking the company’s expansion into Australia.

The acquisition enables Gradiant to leverage its proprietary technologies and strong financing capabilities alongside CRS’s project delivery expertise, access to industrial customers, and relationships with leading contractors, corporations and municipalities, facilitating access to Australia’s burgeoning water market.

Bill Kelly, the managing director and founder of CRS Water will continue to lead the company for a two-year transitional period.

Drought remains ‘diabolical’ for most of NSW – Australia

More than 99 per cent of the state remains in drought, despite record rainfall in Sydney which will see the desalination plant switched off next month and water restrictions wound back.

As Sydney recovers from the worst drought on record, the situation is still “diabolical” for most of the state, in what is likely to create tensions in the Coalition ahead of the May budget.

Data presented to the government this week shows 99.4 per cent of NSW is still in drought, with about one-third in the highest category – “intense drought”.

Heavy rains are great news for Sydney’s dams, but they come with a big caveat – Australia

Throughout summer, Sydney’s water storage level fell alarmingly. Level 2 water restrictions were imposed and the New South Wales government prepared to double the capacity of its desalination plant.

But then it began to rain, and rain. Sydney water storages jumped from 41% in early February to 75% now – the highest of any capital city in Australia.This is great news for the city, but it comes with a big caveat.

Floodwaters will undoubtedly wash bushfire debris into reservoirs—possibly overwhelming water treatment systems. We must prepare now for that worst-case pollution scenario.

Rain could delay plans to double Sydney’s desal plant capacity – Australia

Warragamba Dam is set to jump above 50 per cent capacity due to heavy rainfall, which means that the implementation of a plan by the NSW government to double the capacity of the Sydney Desalination Plant could be delayed.

Earlier this year, NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey directed the operators of the plant to prepare for an expansion “as quickly as practicable” in the context of drought and fast-dropping dam levels.

However the $1 billion project will only proceed from the planning to action stages should dam levels hit certain “trigger points”.

Desalination plants are a critical part of our future – Australia

With water restrictions increasing around NSW and talk about Sydney moving to level three sanctions, people are starting to ask what happens if the city’s water supply becomes critically low?

The prognosis is not good.

Long-term climate forecasts show the drought continuing for a long time. In addition, our population is increasing and recent per capita water usage rates have actually increased.

Australia faces falling inflows even as demand for water grows – Australia

Reservoirs across Australia are recording dwindling inflows as the climate warms and dries, a trend that is likely to continue and force cities, including Melbourne and Sydney, to bolster the security of water supplies.

A new study by University of NSW scientists published in the Water Resources Research journal examined streamflow data for 222 catchments and applied six of the latest climate models. All models forecast drops in supply.

“We are looking at an average of 20 per cent reduced reliability in the future across all the catchments considered,” said Ashish Sharma, a professor at UNSW’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and an author of the report.

Fear desalination plans could set back NSW emission goals – Australia

The Berejiklian government is yet to commit to a source of electricity to power the expansion of desalination in the state, potentially locking in a significant new source of greenhouse gas emissions for NSW.

Sydney’s existing $2.3 billion desalination plant is 100 per cent powered by renewable energy as part of a 20-year deal signed in 2008.

Water Minister Melinda Pavey declined to commit to the preferred energy source to run the planned doubling of the plant and two other such facilities including in the Illawarra.

Sydney households face higher water bills due to desal plant expansion – Australia

Water experts are warning an expansion of Sydney’s $2.3 billion desalination plant is likely to take up to two years to complete and lead to higher bills for households.

With the city’s dam levels dropping fast, the Berejiklian government has begun the process of fast-tracking a doubling in the size of the plant at Kurnell in Sydney’s south.

The move has sparked demands from Labor, the Greens and independent MPs for the government to protect households from higher water bills to fund the expansion, given it stands to pocket $2.5 billion in dividends from Sydney Water between 2018 and 2021.

Sydney desal plant to expand to provide more drinking water – Sydney

The Berejiklian government will fast-track an expansion of Sydney’s desalination plant, which will double it in size to provide more than 30 per cent of the city’s drinking water.

With dam levels dropping to 43 per cent on Wednesday, NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey has directed the operators of the plant to prepare for an expansion “as quickly as practicable”.

Ms Pavey said the expansion of the plant in Kurnell, in Sydney’s south, was a “key element in protecting Sydney’s water security”.

Archive