Power StationsWORLDWIDETHE GLOBAL EDITION 01
Map of 486 power plants in Australia, coloured by fuel and sized by capacity
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Power plants in Australia

486 power-plant records · 65,852 MW reported capacity

  • Gas 28%
  • Hydro 15%
  • Solar 14%
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Australia at a glance

Power-plant records
486
Reported capacity
65,852 MW
Renewable electricity (2024)
35.1%
Most records
Gas, Hydro
Grid operator
AEMO
Capital
Canberra

Largest listed power plants

  1. 1Bayswater2,640 MW
  2. 2Liddell2,200 MW
  3. 3Loy Yang A2,180 MW
  4. 4Gladstone1,680 MW
  5. 5Hazelwood1,600 MW
  6. 6Tumut 31,500 MW
  7. 7Yallourn1,480 MW
Full list of power plants in Australia ↓

Records by technology

Counts records, not generation share · coverage & dates

Reported capacity is the rated size of the listed installations, not electricity being produced now. Source dates and coverage differ, so newer facilities may be absent and historical records may remain.

How electricity works in Australia

Liberalised marketCompetitive generation and retail

Coal still supplies about half of power, but rooftop solar, utility solar and wind are growing quickly. The NEM is a real-time spot market; households choose a retailer.

  1. GenerationCompeting generators
  2. TransmissionIndependent grid operator
  3. DistributionRegulated local networks
  4. CustomersYou choose a supplier

Who regulates

  • AEREnergy regulator
  • AEMCEnergy regulator · Rule maker

Who controls the grid

AEMO runs the National Electricity Market and Western Australia's market; state-based companies own transmission and distribution.

Markets & power exchanges

Regional grid

  • National Electricity Market (NEM)Regional grid

    Eastern and southern Australia share the National Electricity Market, a single wholesale spot market run by AEMO; Western Australia and the Northern Territory run separate systems.

What does “Liberalised market” mean?

Generators sell into a wholesale market, an independent operator runs the transmission grid, and households can choose their electricity supplier. Networks stay regulated monopolies because building parallel power lines makes no sense.

The NEM does not include Western Australia or the Northern Territory. AEMO runs the WEM in Western Australia's South West Interconnected System. Regional network owners and isolated systems are additional organisations.

References reviewed 2026-09-29. Logos are each organisation’s own site icon, shown to identify it. Selected organisations, not an exhaustive list of licence holders.

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ELECTRICITY IN 2024

How Australia generates electricity

Electricity generated281.6 TWh
Renewable share35.1%
Low-carbon share35.1%
Carbon intensity553.8 gCO₂e/kWh

Electricity mix 2024

Annual generation by source · terawatt-hours (TWh)

Hydro12.9 TWh
Wind32.7 TWh
Solar50.2 TWh
Bioenergy3 TWh
Other renewablesNo data
NuclearNo data
Coal127.3 TWh
Gas49.1 TWh
Other fossil6.4 TWh

Missing categories are labelled “No data”. Rounding can cause small differences from the reported total.

Source: Ember (2026), processed by Our World in Data · CC BY 4.0 · Snapshot 24 April 2026. Method & download details.

Explore trends & country comparisons

Geography and data notes

Australia is in Australia and New Zealand. Its coastal or island geography provides a different setting for electricity infrastructure from inland systems. This profile connects country reference information with the historical station inventory and reported electricity generation.

Capital
Canberra
Languages
English
Region
Australia and New Zealand

Geographic reference: Countries geographic database (ODbL). Boundaries and names are for orientation; language listings are introductory, not exhaustive. Banner map: Natural Earth boundaries (public domain) with this atlas’s station records.

The source inventory contains 486 records for Australia. Select a fuel in the map to explore where its stations are located, then open a record to inspect reported capacity and provenance.

Inventory coverage

486 source records. 0 reported operational in their source snapshot; this is not live status.

45 lack an owner/operator; 486 lack a commissioning year.

Coverage, dates & exclusions
THE GENERATION INVENTORY

List of power plants in Australia

Open country map

Browse 486 source records, ordered by reported capacity. Ownership and operating status describe the source snapshot; they may have changed. Missing information is shown explicitly.

Published selection: 12 records. JavaScript loads the full searchable inventory.

MW measures rated capacity, not electricity generated. Records may describe units, installations, projects or whole complexes. Review inventory coverage and licenses. Download this country’s records.