Fire damages diesel engine room at Nova power station, Western Australia
Dec 2022Published 28 Sept 2026
Companies named in this entry: Zenith Energy
What happened
In the early hours of 3 December 2022 a fire damaged the 10 MW Nova power station at IGO's Nova nickel-copper mine in the Fraser Range, Western Australia. The station is owned and operated by Zenith Energy. The on-site emergency team isolated and extinguished the fire, which was confined to the diesel engine room and caused extensive damage there. The source reports no injuries, and no damage to the control room, switch room, solar PV, battery energy storage or power distribution network.
Mine operations were halted and non-essential workers were sent home. Subject to approvals, mining was expected to restart in about two weeks, with full power for the processing facility expected in about four weeks, using temporary generators in stages. The cause had not been established; WorkSafe was attending to investigate.
Contributing factors
The cause of the fire has not been reported.
Lessons learned
- Remote power stations need an on-site team able to isolate and extinguish an engine-room fire quickly.
- Continuity plans should cover a staged return of supply, including temporary generation, when a station may be offline for weeks.
- After an engine-room fire, confirm whether control rooms, switch rooms and any co-located solar or storage were affected, and do not treat an undamaged result as evidence of why the fire stopped.
Source
Published 2026-09-28. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.