What replaces the closed Port Augusta coal stations?

The Northern Power Station (closed 2016) and Playford B (closed 2012) left a ~600 MW gap and stranded a generation of industrial workers. Port Augusta Growth Precinct rebuilds the energy industrial base — 1.5 GW solar plus battery storage plus a synchronous condenser bank plus long-duration storage: dispatchable power and grid stability — on the same workforce that ran the coal stations.

Why a grid-stability anchor here?

When the coal stations closed, South Australia lost the spinning machines that steady a grid — and the 2016 statewide blackout exposed the gap. Port Augusta sits on the strongest grid node in the region, with transmission to Adelaide already built, so it's where synchronous condensers, batteries and long-duration storage do the most good. The synthetic fuel the country needs is made at Tennant Creek, where the power is cheapest.

What are synchronous condensers and why include them?

Synchronous condensers provide grid inertia — the rotational stability traditional coal and gas plants provided as a byproduct. As coal exits the grid, inertia falls and the grid becomes more vulnerable to frequency events. Port Augusta's synchronous condensers replace the inertia the closed coal plants used to provide, allowing more renewables onto the SA grid safely.

Growing Australia

Growing Australia is a fully-costed $190.1B sovereign industry plan to reduce cost-of-living pressure by rebuilding domestic capability in energy, manufacturing, cyber, food and regional partnerships.

The platform contains 48 investments across 26 Growth Precincts, with full costing assumptions and primary-source citations.

Costing model
Citations and sources
Powering Australia
Making It Here
Cyber Australia
Feeding Australia
Our Neighbourhood