Alinta Ltd. of Australia and Alcoa World Alumina Australia agreed that Alinta would build a series of cogeneration units at Alcoa World Alumina Australia’s refineries in Western Australia. They could produce up to 1200 MW of generation capacity. Alinta retained Hatch Energy to provide project, procurement and construction management for the first two cogeneration units, which were installed at Alcoa’s Pinjarra Alumina refinery, 90 km south of Perth in Western Australia.

The cogeneration units each include a 140-MW gas-turbine generator and heat-recovery steam generator that can produce up to 430 tonnes per hour of steam with supplemental duct firing. The electrical power produced is supplied to Alinta’s customers through Western Power Corporation’s South West Interconnected System. The waste heat produces steam both to generate electrical power at the Pinjarra powerhouse, and to provide heat for the alumina refinery process. More than 1.2 million on-site work hours were committed to the project and there were no lost-time injuries.

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(L) Unit #1 Operational ( foreground) (R) Unit # 2 during commissioning (background).