Temporary Generation North and its smaller sibling

Temporary Generation South Temporary Generation South and its larger sibling Temporary Generation North were gas turbine power stations in South Australia. They were bought by the Government of South Australia in 2017 as a response to the 2016 South Australian blackout a ...

were

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

power stations in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. They were bought by the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...

in 2017 as a response to the 2016 South Australian blackout and load-shedding in February 2017. Temporary Generation North was five

open cycle gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the direction of flow: ...

s installed at the former

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

site in Elizabeth South, a northern suburb of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. It was closed in the first quarter of 2021 so that the turbines could be moved to become the

Snapper Point Power Station The Snapper Point Power Station is a gas turbine power station situated at Outer Harbor, South Australia, adjacent to the older Pelican Point Power Station. Snapper Point Power Station is owned by Nexif Energy and is a peaking power plant. In ...

at Outer Harbor. The generators were purchased to be used only in emergency shortfalls in electricity supply to the grid, such as in extreme weather. Both sets were first used on 24 January 2019 to deal with a supply shortfall in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. The intent of the Weatherill ALP state government was that the turbines would be converted from

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 ...

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 ...

and moved to a single location while remaining owned by the government. In August 2019, the state government (following the 2018 election, now controlled by the

Liberal party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

) announced that it had arranged 25-year leases of the power stations to two different companies, with the leases taking effect from May 2020. Both companies operate wind farms in South Australia. The five northern generators were leased to

Nexif Energy Nexif RATCH Energy is a Singapore-based company that owns and operates wind farms and other renewable energy projects in several countries. It is a joint venture of Nexif and RATCH Group Thailand PCL founded in December 2022. Power sources In ...

and are being relocated to a new site at Outer Harbor and operating on natural gas, intended to be before the end of 2020. Nexif Energy also proposes to convert them to

combined cycle A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turb ...

with a steam turbine in the following few years. This schedule was delayed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, with Temporary Generation North closing in the first quarter of 2021, and Snapper Point in commissioning as of April 2022.

References

Diesel power stations in South Australia Buildings and structures completed in 2017 {{Australia-powerstation-stub