PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas major Santos has launched a battery project at the Darwin liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which is aimed at reducing carbon emissions from electricity, by some 20%.
The battery project, which is expected to be completed by the middle of next year, will also cut fuel gas consumption and operating costs, Santos MD and CEO Kevin Gallagher said.
The project is a world first for an LNG plant, and involves the integration of battery technology with existing power generation turbines so they run more efficiently. This will not only result in a significant cut in carbon emissions, but also a reduction in costs by saving on fuel use and maintenance.
“This is the latest of a number of carbon reduction actions we are taking across the company, and not the first time we are employing battery technology,” Gallagher said.
“We are converting oil well beam pumps to solar and batteries in the Cooper basin, as well as investing A$10-million to test the potential for carbon capture, utilisation and storage, also in the Cooper.”
Santos is also working on significant solar installations across its operations, including at Port Bonython in South Australia.
“In Western Australia, we’re replacing existing power generation turbines at our Devil Creek plant with higher fuel efficiency ones, not only reducing emissions by more than 25% but also generating carbon credit units as a registered project with the Emission Reduction Fund.”
“These initiatives are steps along the way to achieving our goal of net zero emissions by 2050.”
The battery project will now move into the front-end engineering and design phase of development, and is targeting completion by the middle of next year.