Tallawarra Power Station is a 435 MW combined cycle natural gas power station in Yallah, New South Wales, Australia. Owned and operated by EnergyAustralia, 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. 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 Endeavour Energy.

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. 'A' station had four 30 MW Thomson-Houston 2 stage (HP+LP) turbo generators. Steam was supplied by four Simon Carves pulverised fuel boilers at 300,000 lb/h at a pressure of 625 psi and a temperature of 865 °F. In 1960 "B" station was built having two 100 MW English Electric 3-stage turbo generators (No. 5+6). The generators were hydrogen-cooled but didn't have any stator water cooling. Steam was supplied by 2 ICAL pulverised coal burning boilers at a rate of 800,000 lb/h at a pressure of 1,680 psi and a temperature of 1,000 °F. The station closed in 1989, and stood abandoned by the foreshore of Lake Illawarra. It was demolished over a ten-year period. In early 2003 the site was sold by Pacific Power to TRUenergy and construction of the gas-fired combined cycle plant began in November 2006. The plant consists of a gas turbine of 288 MW and a 3-stage steam turbine of 160 MW with a single 450 MW generator. A unique feature is the waste heat boiler with a super heater and two reheater sections for the IP and LP stages of the turbine. Overall thermal efficiency is 60%. It was opened by Premier Nathan Rees on 18 March 2009. In 2021 construction began on Stage B, a 300+ MW expansion of the existing Stage A power station and the construction of a 420MW Open Cycle Gas Turbine Power Plant. It was commissioned in June 2024.