Adelaide’s burgeoning southern districts have received a natural gas pipeline boost due to a multi-million dollar investment by Australian Gas Networks (AGN), the country’s largest gas distribution company.
South Australian-based AGN has commissioned two separate projects – being undertaken simultaneously to introduce and improve natural gas supplies to the region – which will provide a major economic boost for the area.
Businesses and homeowners in the internationally renowned McLaren Vale wine and tourism district are the biggest winners following the construction of a new $6 million pipeline to supply natural gas to the area for the first time.
In a separate project only a few kilometres away, AGN is funding a significant $6 million upgrade to the Seaford Aldinga high pressure network – the main gas pipeline supplying Adelaide’s southern coastal region including Seaford, Aldinga and Seaford Meadows – to improve/increase gas supplies to thousands of homes and businesses in the region.
AGN’s $12 million commitment to both projects follows its $14 million dollar upgrade to the natural gas pipeline that supplies Mildura in Victoria late last year and a $19.8 million pipeline it is currently constructing at the Port of Bundaberg in Queensland.
“The combined projects in Adelaide’s southern districts are the latest in a continuous improvement program we undertake in all of the jurisdictions in which we operate,” Australian Gas Networks chief operating officer Andrew Stanford said.
“Importantly, the new pipeline to McLaren Vale will provide a major economic boost for the area as hundreds of businesses and homeowners will be able to access natural gas for the first time.
“Previously, these premises have had to rely on bottled LPG being supplied to their properties.
“Natural gas is a clean, safe, instant and cost-effective energy source, so our ability to provide natural gas to customers in McLaren Vale will be a real economic growth opportunity for the region.
“And the upgrade to our natural gas pipeline servicing customers in Adelaide’s southern coastal suburbs has been designed to allow us to meet expected continued demand for natural gas.”