Explosion at Callide ‘won’t hit Qld bills’
Queenslanders are being assured their power bills won’t skyrocket after a catastrophic failure at Queensland’s second-largest power station caused wholesale energy prices to surge.
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Queenslanders are being assured their power bills won’t skyrocket after a catastrophic failure at a power station caused wholesale energy prices to surge to the most expensive the market will allow.
The cause of the explosion and fire at Callide Power Station near Biloela which left nearly 500,000 homes and businesses across the state and NSW without power is not yet known. But operator CS Energy has confirmed the severely damaged generator will be out of action for at least a year.
It is understood the cost of a turbine is $40m, however the company’s CEO Andrew Bills said it was far too early to know how much the repairs would cost, or the damage done.
Mr Bills said the company had informed national electricity manager the Australian Energy Market Operator that three of the four turbines damaged in Tuesday’s fire and explosion would be back online by June 8.
“With regards to the fourth unit C4, it is too early to say with certainty when it will be operational again, however based on currently available information, we have informed AEMO that the unit will be available in 12 months,” he said.
“The return to service dates are based on the information that CS Energy has available at this point in time and these dates will be updated when we learn more. CS Energy will provide further updates as new information comes to hand.
“We are in constant contact with AEMO and Powerlink, the transmission network operator, as to the status of our plant,” Mr Bills said.
Mr Bills said the wellbeing of Callide’s 260 employees remained CS Energy’s top priority.
The incident caused 3100MW of energy to be wiped off the grid, with the Australian Electricity Market Regulator warning rolling blackouts would be needed if more electricity wasn’t pumped into the system.
In a bid to shore up supply, the spot price of wholesale energy soared to highs of $15,000 per megawatt hour in Queensland for 1.5 hours, the highest price it can go.
The wholesale price of energy was forecast by the AEMO to hit a high of $14700 per MWh in Queensland on Wednesday evening. By comparison, the average price of a wholesale megawatt hour in Queensland worked out to be $53 last financial year.
Energy Minister Mick de Brenni assured Queenslanders the Callide explosion was a “blip on the horizon” in terms of supply and demand.
“There will be no impact on households as a result of this,” he said.
Climate and energy expert Richie Merzian, from think-tank the Australia Institute, said it would take a “number of extreme scenarios” over a sustained period before high costs were passed on to consumers.
Mr Bills said the company’s intention was to get the unit back on and keep the plant running until 2037.
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