Katherine Power Station is a

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

-fired

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

located at

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

near the town of

Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

. The power station is owned and operated by Territory Generation and supplies the Darwin-Katherine Interconnected System. The dual-fuel station can also independently provide power to Katherine in the event of disruptions across the regional grid, such as when gas supply was interrupted to Channel Island Power Station near Darwin during 2014. The generators in Katherine were able to use a back up supply of

diesel fuel Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, heavy oil (historically) or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a re ...

to minimise blackouts in the town. The power station was commissioned in 1987 with three generators providing a total capacity of 24.5 MW. A fourth unit was added in 2012, increasing this to 36.5 MW. The older units are planned to be decommissioned in 2026–27, however by this time it is expected that the

Eni Eni is an Italian oil and gas corporation. Eni or ENI may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia, the Argentine intelligence academy * Groupe des écoles nationales d’ingénieurs (Groupe ENI), a French engi ...

group's 25 MW solar farm north of the town will be fully operational.

References

Natural gas-fired power stations in the Northern Territory Buildings and structures in the Northern Territory {{Australia-powerstation-stub