Arcadia Valley Phase 1
Reducing global carbon emissions by replacing coal power with gas
PROJECT STORY
The challenge
To help Santos drive down costs in its Arcadia Valley project, which will produce liquified natural gas to help reduce global carbon emissions.
The solution
We proposed a change in the basis of design in the electrical kiosk transformer arrangements, which resulted in a reduction in the total field cost.
The impact
Arcadis designed the power and communication network to supply the new wells, communication towers and reverse osmosis plant.
$3.4 million
saving after revision of design basis
47%
How much less carbon emissions LNG power emits compared with conventional coal power stations
The challenge
Gas has been identified as a key transition fuel to replace coal for power generation and reduce emissions. For every tonne of carbon dioxide emitted during its production in Australia, liquefied natural gas saves between 3 and 10 tonnes of emissions when it replaces coal in power generation in Asia.
-
READ MORE
Santos’s Arcadia Valley Phase 1 project involved investing more than $400 million to establish 148 new wells via the construction of 140km of gas, water and power networks, 4G communication towers, a new compressor station, a reverse osmosis plant, a 5MW gas-fired power station, and associated roads and infrastructure.
At the same time, it wants to continue to be Australia’s safest, most reliable and lowest-cost developer and operator of gas facilities and infrastructure.
The solution
To help meet Santos’ aim of pursuing low-cost solutions, Arcadis undertook detailed design of the power and communications network needed to supply the new wells, communication tower and reverse osmosis plant at the Arcadia Valley Phase 1 project, north-west of Brisbane.
-
READ MORE
We proposed a change to the basis of design and revised the electrical kiosk transformer arrangement from the original low-cost off-the-shelf kiosk arrangement to a higher specification kiosk arrangement. This revised kiosk arrangement decreased the power cable requirements, and resulted in a cheaper overall power network. Our NPV assessment over the lifecycle of the assets demonstrated that the revised kiosk arrangement ultimately resulted in a reduction in the total field cost of $3.4 million.
We also proactively developed a digital automated optimisation tool to further improve the network, resulting in reductions in the size and length of power cables and fewer kiosk transformers and other power network units.
The impact
Whilst this kiosk assessment was initially developed for the Arcadia Valley Phase 1 project, the benefits were so significant that Santos has adopted this as the new standard for future field development projects in Eastern Queensland.
-
READ MORE
In addition to financial benefits associated with decreased capital costs, the new kiosk arrangement improved safety on the project, by reducing arc flash hazard, lowering risk of electrocution and reducing requirements for personal protective equipment in the safer work environment.
The new arrangement also improved security of supply by decreasing the likelihood of nuisance tripping. It also improved the project’s carbon footprint by reducing the power system losses and quantity of materials.
All-in-all, the project is helping Santos to produce LNG in a safer, less emissions intensive and more cost-effective manner, and make its own contribution to the global carbon emissions effort.
