Point Paterson Desalination Plant

{{Short description|It has a great history}}

__NOTOC__

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}

{{Use Australian English|date= February 2016}}

{{Infobox desalination plant

| name = Point Paterson Desalination Plant

| image =

| caption =

| location = Winninowie, South Australia{{cite web|title=Search result for "Winninowie (Locality Bounded)" (Record no SA0044249) with the following layers being selected - "Suburbs and Localities" and "Place names (gazetteer)"|url=http://maps.sa.gov.au/plb/#|publisher=Government of South Australia|date=|accessdate=13 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012010923/http://maps.sa.gov.au/plb/|archive-date=12 October 2016|url-status=dead}}

| estimated output = 15 megalitres per day

| extended output = 123 megalitres per day

| cost = A$370 million (2010)

| energy usage =

| energy generation offset = Solar Thermal Generation on site

| cost offsets = Salt Harvesting

| technology = Multi Effects and Reverse Osmosis

| percent of water supply = More than 100% of Spencer Gulf (residential supply)

| operation date = Project cancelled

| website =

}}

The Point Paterson Desalination Plant was a planned municipal-scale solar-powered desalination plant with land-based brine disposal near Point Paterson in the locality of Winninowie in the Australian state of South Australia about {{convert|13|km}} south of the city centre of Port Augusta. The Point Paterson Project was to utilise a salt flat owned by a salt company but which has not been in use for solar salt production for decades. The plant would have integrated renewable energy and desalination technologies to create environmentally-friendly electricity and water. In particular, the project would have significantly reduced the usual greenhouse impacts associated with grid electricity demand for desalination.[http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=EC134p4.pdf Solar-powered desalination plant leads the way] The project had attracted the interest of internationally renowned climatologist, the late Professor Stephen Schneider, who joined the Board of Acquasol in 2006.

If the plant had been built, it was expected to produce 5.5 gigalitres of water per year, enough to supply the needs of 34,000 people. Port Augusta (13,257 people) would receive 2 gigalitres per year free of cost during the first two years of the plant's operation. The plant would have been configured to expand if need be, with a potential output of 45 gigalitres per year.

The project never received enough funding, and the company was declared insolvent in 2014.{{cite web|title=NOTICE OF PROPOSED DEREGISTRATION (ACQUASOL INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED)|url=https://insolvencynotices.asic.gov.au/browsesearch-notices/notice-details/ACQUASOL-INFRASTRUCTURE-AUSTRALIA-PTY-LIMITED-153950415/aaf58f5e-e5e3-4cdf-8377-67e3611483e7|publisher=Australian Securities and Investments Commission|accessdate=25 March 2016|date=28 January 2014}}