  Location within New South Wales | |
 | |
| Desalination plant | |
|---|---|
| Location | Kurnell, Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Coordinates | 34°01′29″S 151°12′18″E / 34.02475°S 151.205136°E |
| Estimated output | 250 ML (55×106 imp gal) per day |
| Extended output | 500 ML (110×106 imp gal) per day |
| Cost | A$1.803 billion |
| Energy usage | 257.7 GWh (928 TJ) in the first full year of operation.[1] 38 Megawatts (333 GWh per year) at full production [1] |
| Energy generation offset | Capital Wind Farm, Bungendore, 450 GWh (1,600 TJ) per annum[2] |
| Technology | Reverse osmosis |
| Percent of water supply | 15% of Sydney 30% extended capacity |
| Operation date | 28 January 2010[3] |
| Website | sydneydesal |
The Sydney Desalination Plant also known as the Kurnell Desalination Plant is a potable drinking water desalination plant that forms part of the water supply system of Greater Metropolitan Sydney. The plant is located in the Kurnell industrial estate, in Southern Sydney in the Australian state of New South Wales. The plant uses reverse osmosis filtration membranes to remove salt from seawater and is powered using renewable energy, supplied to the national power grid from the Infigen Energy–owned Capital Wind Farm located at Bungendore.
The Sydney Desalination Plant is owned by the Government of New South Wales. In 2012, the NSW Government entered into a 50–year lease with Sydney Desalination Plant Pty Ltd (SDP), a company jointly owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (50%) and two funds managed by Hastings Funds Management Limited: Utilities Trust of Australia and The Infrastructure Fund (together 50%).[4] The terms of the A$2.3 billion lease lock Sydney Water into a 50–year water supply agreement with SDP.[5] The operator of the plant is Veolia Water Australia Pty Ltd.
The Sydney Desalination Plant is the third major desalination plant built in Australia, after Kwinana in Perth which was completed in 2006 and Tugun on the Gold Coast which was completed in 2009.
- ^ "Sydney Water – Annual Report 2011" (PDF). Sydney Water has also reported the electricity use by the Sydney Desalination Plant in this report. The plant is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sydney Water. The Sydney Desalination Plant used 257.7 million kWh last year, compared with 83.8 million kWh in 2009–10. It was the first full year of operation for the desalination plant, which began operation in January 2010. Sydney Water. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 April 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
- ^ "The Capital Wind Farm, Infigen Energy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 April 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
- ^ "Sydney's desal plant switched on". The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP. 28 January 2010. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
- ^ "Ownership Structure". About. Sydney Desalination Plant Pty Ltd. 2013. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
- ^ "NSW signs $2.3b desalination plant deal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Reuters. 11 May 2012. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2014.