Home / Oceania / Australia / Kwinana

Kwinana

Gas power plant in Western Australia, Australia. Approximate location -32.197, 115.7759.

GasWestern AustraliaAustraliaOCGT

Kwinana is a 21 MW gas power plant in Western Australia, Australia. It is operated by Verve Energy. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 24k homes (estimated). It ranks #337 of 536 Australia power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2014, it is around 12 years old — relatively modern. In context, gas supplies about 16.4% of Australia's electricity; the national grid averages 525 gCO₂/kWh (38.6% low-carbon) (2025).

21Source-backed capacity
23,652homes powered (est.)
2014commissioned (~12 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id AUS0000194.

Data status

Known data

FacilityKwinana WRI
CountryAustralia · Western Australia WRI
Coordinates-32.197, 115.7759 WRI
FuelGas WRI
MW installed capacity21 MW WRI source record; scope not independently normalised
OwnerVerve Energy WRI
Commissioned2014 WRI
TechnologyOCGT WRI

Calculated from dataset

CO₂ emissions33,113 t CO₂/yr calculated
Capacity rank in country#337 of 536 calculated
Fuel-specific rank in country#131 of 163 calculated
Capacity vs country/fuel peers0.20× · 106 MW median · 163 peers calculated
Homes-powered equivalent23,652 calculated
Climate18.3°C · HDD 650 derived from coordinates
Environmental severityC4 · 42/100 derived from coordinates

Not available

GWh reported / yrNot available not in dataset

Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.

Capacity provenance

The public capacity above is the current source-record value. A 2026 tracker candidate lists 200 MW for Kwinana power station, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).

Capacity claim grade: A3_MAJOR_REVIEW_SCOPE_STATUS - recommended action: manual_scope_status_check - confidence: low_until_scope_verified. This follows a claim-based data model: value + scope + source + confidence, rather than silently overwriting records.

Data provenance

The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.

capacity: GEM tracker 2026 (location L100000405117); fuel: WRI source-record fuel

In context: how this plant compares

At 21 MW, Kwinana is below the median gas plant in Australia (106 MW). Technically it is described as OCGT. Gas plants burn natural gas either in open-cycle turbines for fast peaking, or in combined-cycle units that recover exhaust heat in an HRSG to reach roughly 55–62% efficiency — the cleanest-burning fossil option.

Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.

Capacity vs largest gas plants in Australia

Tomago Aluminium Smelter: 810 MW810Tomago Alu…Torrens Island B: 800 MW800Torrens Is…Marulan power station: 800 MW800Marulan po…Tallawarra: 796 MW796TallawarraKerrawary Power Station: 770 MW770Kerrawary …Callide Gas Peaker Power Plant: 750 MW750Callide Ga…Colongra: 724 MW724ColongraUranquinty: 664 MW664Uranquinty

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Verve Energy. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 32.2°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

18.3°Cannual mean temp
650heating degree-days (base 18°C)
756cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
23 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 24 °CJF: 25 °CFM: 23 °CMA: 20 °CAM: 16 °CMJ: 14 °CJJ: 13 °CJA: 13 °CAS: 14 °CSO: 16 °CON: 19 °CND: 22 °CD25 °C

Heating degree-days here run 74% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.

Climate heat-demand index: 22/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.

A gas turbine here also runs ~2% below its ISO (15°C) rating at this annual mean (typical CCGT curve, estimate).

Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.

Site climate & environmental severity

For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with marine corrosion the leading environmental stress.

C4ISO 9223 corrosivity (indicative)
42/100environmental-severity index
11.7°Cseasonal temperature swing
23 kmdistance to coast

Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.

Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #131 largest gas power plant of 163 in Australia by capacity.

Australia has 163 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 29,942 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates -32.197, 115.7759 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions

What type of power plant is Kwinana?

Kwinana is a 21 MW source-record gas power plant in Western Australia, Australia, commissioned in 2014.

How many homes can Kwinana power?

Its output is enough to supply roughly 23,652 homes (estimated).

Who operates Kwinana?

Kwinana is operated by Verve Energy.

Built from open public data; no personal information. Operate this site? Request a correction or removal.