Jo-Ann Miller
September 6, 2017
The re-starting of the mothballed Swanbank E Power Station near Ipswich is not expected to have any effect on Stanwell’s activities at Tarong and Tarong North.
In February 2014, a decision to put the gas-fired Swanbank unit into cold-storage was linked to the move to restart the then-mothballed Tarong generating units, Units 2 and 4.
The State Government announced on Wednesday the Swanbank E Power Station would start supplying power again on January 1.
Swanbank E was originally going to be withdrawn from service for up to three years, with the loss of about 30 jobs.
Member for Bundamba Jo-Ann Miller said a recruitment drive for 16 new positions at the plant was progressing well.
Earlier this year, the State Government said restarting Swanbank E was one of the key elements of its Powering Queensland Plan.
Asked at the time by southburnett.com.au if this could affect operations at Tarong, a Stanwell spokesman replied: “At this stage, our plan is to have all units firing!”
The State Government’s plans also included directing Stanwell “to undertake strategies to place downward pressure on wholesale prices”, and “investigating the restructure of the government-owned corporation generators”.
