The initial plant was two 2.5MW BTH/English Electric turbo alternators that were no longer needed at Ultimo power station.
Due to a severe lack of water, these turbines only exhausted into individual jet condensers.
The second stage of Lithgow power station development started in 1948 with the removal of No5 which had been damaged and the installation of a 7.5MW Metro-Vickers alternator from Zaara St and became No4A.
A series of wooden cooling towers were constructed and allowed the use of surface condensers for these larger sets.
Walter Lockhart Cowen,[3] district electrical superintendent for New South Wales Government Railways, managed the Lithgow Power Station from its construction phase until his retirement in 1951.