Tallawarra Power Station

Tallawarra Power Station
Country	Australia
Location	Yallah, western shore of Lake Illawarra, Wollongong
Coordinates	34°31′22″S 150°48′29″E
Status	Peak
Commission date	2009
Owner(s)	TRUenergy
Power station information
Primary fuel	Natural Gas
Generation units	2
Combined cycle?	Yes
Power generation information
Maximum capacity	435 MW

Tallawarra Power Station is a 435 MW combined cycle natural gas power station in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Owned and operated by TRUenergy, the station is the first of its type in New South Wales and produces electricity for the state during periods of high demand. It is located on the western shore of Lake Illawarra in the suburb of Yallah.

The station comprises a 260 MW gas turbine and a 160 MW steam turbine unit and has a total capacity of 435 MW. It uses many of the previous power station's structures including the cooling system channels from Lake Illawarra. The power station is connected to the state grid via a 132 kV switching station maintained by Integral Energy.

TRUenergy has also indicated that an additional power plant is being considered for the site, to be known as Tallawarra B.

History

Tallawarra originally operated as a coal fired power station beginning in 1954 and reaching full operation by 1961. At its peak, it had a capacity output of 320 MW from 6 coal burning units. The station closed in 1989, and stood abandoned by the foreshore of Lake Illawarra. It was progressively demolished to ground level over a ten-year period.

In early 2003 the site was sold by Pacific Power to TRUenergy (then known as TXU) and construction of the gas powered combined cycle plant began in November 2006. It was opened by the NSW Premier Nathan Rees on 18 March 2009.