ERM Power is currently working on the Braemar Project, a collection of three gas-fired power stations 40 km southwest of Dalby, Queensland. Braemar is a location that ERM Power identified in the mid-1990s as being the most appropriate place to build a gas plant in order to meet the growing energy needs of southeast Queensland for future decades.

Braemar 1 and Braemar 2 have a capacity of 504 and 519 megawatts (MW) respectively, and the proposed Braemar 3project will have capacity of up to 550 MW.

Each Braemar power station has taken approximately two years to build. If all goes to plan Braemar 3will be connected to the grid by December 2013.

Before Braemar

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Braemar 3 is the seventh major power project for ERM Power. In the last five years, ERM Power has developed approximately 29 per cent of all new scheduled generation commissioned in Australia.

Future expansion

ERM is currently seeking governmental development approval for Braemar 4, and is undergoing pre-feasibility planning for a Braemar 5. Pre-feasibility and conceptual planning for these projects usually commences seven to five years out from the project’s start.

Future gas exploration

ERM Power has been building its gas exploration position for a number of years now. It has had two consecutive successful gas discoveries in Western Australia at Gingin and Red Gully with Empire Oil & Gas. Mr St Baker said that it is a substantial discovery historically in Western Australia, and it will change opinions and views about the prospectivity of the onshore Perth Basin, so it is very exciting from that point of view. We look forward to bringing both Gingin and Red Gully into commercial operations over the next 18 months.

Gas in the energy mix


In our opinion, in the last decade, gas has been the most appropriate energy solution for Australia, from both an economic and an environmental point of view. When wind and solar represent the best solutions for Australia, we will be building wind and solar.

A price on carbon?

Until we start replacing coal as our power source, Australia will not make significant contributions to reducing its carbon footprint. An impost on carbon will be an advantage to ERM Power, but what’s best for Australia, in our opinion, is not a broad-based system which taxes everything.

What we do know is that where incentives have been given to drive or promote the use of lower-emission technologies, benefits have been delivered. The Gas Electricity Certificate scheme in Queensland has been running for about seven years, where incentive is given to generate electricity using the state's gas supply. This scheme has resulted in approximately $2 billion worth of gas investment in those seven years, and delivered an approximate 10 per cent reduction in the carbon footprint from the sector in Queensland – and the consumers have hardly felt the cost. Australia needs to take advantage of that, but on a nationwide level, not just in Queensland.