Carnarvon's residents and business leaders attended a sundowner on 10 February to mark the commencement of construction on the new power station in Carnarvon.
Horizon Power gave guests a tour of the existing power station in the town and then visited the Mungullah Power Station site to provide an update of the progress to-date and explain why it was time for change.
Gascoyne/Mid-West Regional Manager Mark Bruce told guests of the benefits the power station will bring to both the local community and the State.
"The old power station served its time well but now we have the technology to build a more reliable and environmentally-friendly power station to meet the growing needs of the Carnarvon community," said Mark.
"The site is six and a half kilometres away from the town centre so it will be significantly quieter than the old power station and by using dual-fuel technology we are a ensuring a safer, more reliable network."
In the year since the first sod was turned at site by the Minister for Energy Peter Collier MLC, some important milestones have been reached and now construction work is ready to commence at-site. By the end of 2011, site works were complete and work to install two high voltage feeder cables had been installed, connecting the existing power station site and substation in Carnarvon to the new power station.
"The site will start to look like a power station very soon and we look forward to having a greener, more efficient power station operational by the end of the year, with all testing completed by early 2013," said Mark.
Mr Bruce said the local community had been very supportive of the project.
"There has been a lot of interest from the local community and with construction work about to commence at site, this was a great opportunity for us to keep the community informed about the progress we have made."