‘Substantial’: SA desalination plant to generate $5 billion for local economy

South Australia is one step closer to becoming a renewable energy superpower as the money is now secured. BHP is among the businesses backing the state’s northern water project, which is estimated to pump over $5 billion into the local economy. “That would represent probably the most substantial piece of economic infrastructure investment in our state’s history,” South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said. “South Australia is home to 70 per cent of the nation’s copper. “We know that copper production and consumption around the world is set to grow substantially as we continue to decarbonise industry. “In order to be able to produce copper, you need a lot of water, which means if we want BHP and others to produce a lot more copper, we need to get them a lot of water.”