Country Australia Commission date 1967 Cooling source Sea Owner AGL Energy | Status Seasonal Type Steam turbine Phone +61 8 8240 9266 Primary fuel Natural gas | |
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Location Torrens Island, South Australia Address Grand Trunkway, Port Adelaide SA 5015, Australia Hours Open today ยท Open 24 hoursMondayOpen 24 hoursTuesdayOpen 24 hoursWednesdayOpen 24 hoursThursdayOpen 24 hoursFridayOpen 24 hoursSaturdayOpen 24 hoursSundayOpen 24 hoursSuggest an edit | ||
Torrens island power station
Torrens Island Power Station is located on Torrens Island, near Adelaide, South Australia and is operated by AGL Energy. It burns natural gas in eight steam turbines to generate up to 1,280 MW of electricity. The gas is supplied via the SEAGas pipeline from Victoria, and the Moomba Adelaide Pipeline System (MAPS) from Moomba in the Cooper Basin. The station is capable of burning either natural gas or fuel oil. It is the largest power station in South Australia and was formerly the largest single power station user of natural gas in Australia.
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Construction began in 1963 following passing of a government act vesting the land and authorising construction. The 480 MW (4 x 120MW) A Station was completed in 1967, and construction of the 800 MW (4 x 200MW) B Station was completed in 1976.
In December 2014 AGL announced that it intended mothballing the four older units of the A Station indefinitely, having taken them out of service between July and September 2014. This decision was primarily driven by increasing levels of wind and solar generation in the South Australian region of the National Electricity Market displacing fossil fuel generation, particularly higher cost gas-fired generation. AGL reviewed this decision and deferred the planned mothballing in June 2016, following the closure of Alinta's Northern and Playford B coal-fired power stations at Port Augusta
However, due to the state-wide power outage in September 2016, the Power Market Operator demanded that the Torrens Island power station to be brought back online to prevent another statewide power outage.