A distributor and service partner of GE, Clarke Energy will provide the latter’s 11 Jenbacher J624 gas engines for the power plant named as Yamarna Power Station.

The power plant will be built in Western Australia to cover the power requirements of the Gruyere Gold Project, a 50/50 joint venture between Gold Road Resources and Gold Fields.

It will be fed with gas sourced from a distance of about 1,500kms through four interconnected pipelines of the APA Group. One of them will be the 198km long Yamarna Gas Pipeline which is under construction.

APA Group networks and power group executive Sam Pearce said: “As an infrastructure owner, our priority is to provide safe, reliable and efficient energy to our customers.

“Together with Clarke Energy as the EPC and GE’s demonstrated Jenbacher gas engine technology providing the power, we will be able to, once again, deliver a compelling energy solution for our customer using both our interconnected pipeline and power generation capabilities to the remote gold mine.”

Claimed to be the first two-stage, turbocharged gas engine in the world, GE’s Jenbacher J624 is expected to deliver maximum levels of engineering excellence and significant benefits.

According to GE, the Jenbacher J624 is particularly ideal to be installed in areas where operations take place in hot environments like the Gruyere Gold Project location. 

GE distributed power Asia Pacific sales director Daniel Angelo Icasiano said: “GE’s Jenbacher J624, high-speed gas engines provide numerous benefits for customers.

“In addition to high power density in hot ambient temperatures and best-in-class electrical efficiency of more than 45 percent, they also include the capability to operate successfully with large transient electrical loads associated with mining processing plants.”

Both the Yamarna Gas Pipeline and the Yamarna Power Station are anticipated to be commissioned in late 2018 in line with the Gruyere Gold Project’s first gold production which is slated for early 2019.

Image: GE’s Jenbacher J624 gas engine. Photo: courtesy of General Electric.