$100m gas plan 120 building jobs forecast

A MAJOR gas company has revealed plans for a $100 million expansion of its Waarre facility involving up to 120 construction jobs.TRUenergy wants to increase the capacity of its Iona processing plant, north of Port Campbell, to supply the equivalent of almost half of Victoria's maximum peak demand.The project will also nearly double the size of its underground storage facility which is already the largest in Victoria.Company spokesman Carl Kitchen said the project would meet the demand for gas in Victoria and South Australia which was likely to grow once the emissions trading scheme was introduced in 2010.Mr Kitchen said the Iona plant would expand so it could process 500 kilojoules of gas each day. Its current capacity is 350kJ/day.Victoria's biggest gas processing facility at Longford produces 1100kJ/day.The capacity of the site's underground storage will rise from 12 petajoules to 22PJ - about 80 days' worth of the state's needs.Site preparations began in September and design work is now under way with major construction contracts in the tender process.Full construction is expected to begin early next year with up to 120 workers engaged for six months.Mr Kitchen said once the expansion project was complete, the gas plant would require another six permanent staff.Corangamite councillor-elect Steve Cumming, who is chairman of the gas plant community reference group, said the project would provide a benefit to businesses and landlords."We need to be grateful the money comes into the region, but it does come at a cost to nearby residents," Mr Cumming said."Many years of cumulative effect of work in the area comes to the detriment of residents - things such as the traffic going to and from the site each day. "If that can be managed then it's not too much of a problem."These gas plants are always going to be upgrading their facilities. The community has to be ready for it."