Desalination monthly report

In November 2006, the Minister for Planning approved the Concept Plan for Sydney's Desalination Project, subject to a number of conditions.

One of these conditions (Clause 4: Community Information, Consultation and Involvement specified the Provision of Electronic Information. Sub-clause 4.1 f.) requires Sydney Water to publish and maintain up-to-date information on its website covering “details on the operation of the projects associated with this concept plan, including information on operating hours, volume of desalinated water produced and equivalent emissions of carbon dioxide associated with the operation”.

The following table includes the information required under this clause.

Monthly report (click to view daily volume of water supplied)1	Hours plant operated2	Volume of water delivered into system (megalitres3)	Total of CO2 equivalent emissions for electric power4 (kilotonnes5 CO2 equivalent)	Total of CO2 equivalent emissions for other than electric power6 (kilotonnes5 CO2 equivalent)
Jan 2011 (PDF - 42KB)	744	7,649	22.6	0.0036
Feb 2011 (PDF - 42KB)	672	7,572	22.2	0.0012
Mar 2011 (PDF - 42KB)	744	8,201	23.9	0.0016
Apr 2011 (PDF - 42KB)	710	7,277	21.5	0.0012
May 2011 (PDF - 44KB)	744	8,089	23.9	0.0012
Jun 2011 (PDF - 52KB)	720	7,670	22.9	0.0049
Jul 2011 (PDF - 47KB)	744	7,835		0.0017
Aug 2011 (PDF - 51KB)	744	7,953		0.0015
Sep 2011 (PDF - 51KB)	720	7,883		0.0017
Oct 2011 (PDF - 50KB)	663	7,481		0.0015
Nov 2011 (PDF - 49KB)	712	7,072		0.0015
Dec 2011 (PDF - 75KB)	744	4,3327		0.0016

The carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the use of electric power are fully offset by 100% renewable energy from a 67-turbine wind farm at Bungendore in NSW.

Footnotes:

1. Reporting data is based on billed electrical use, this data may be adjusted in line with the National Electricity Rules.
2. "Hours plant operated" refers to the hours that seawater was being pumped into the plant for treatment purposes.
3. One megalitre is 1,000,000 litres.
4. Total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from electric power use offset by renewable energy.
5. One kilotonne is 1,000 tonnes.
6. Total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the use on-site of other power sources such as diesel, petrol and gas.
7. On 9 December 2011 the dam storage level reached 80%. The Minister directed the Sydney Desalination Plant to reduce supply to about 90 million litres a day. The plant’s excellent performance and increased dam levels mean the original two-year proving period of running the plant at full capacity (250 million litres/day) can end early.