Energy Minister insists Queensland’s grid is sufficient

The Queensland government has promised the state will not be plunged into blackouts this summer despite failings at major power station.

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni has declared the state has sufficient power supply and won’t be plunged into rolling blackouts this summer, despite a critical failure at a major coal-fired power station in Central Queensland.

The Callide Power Station was removed from the energy grid last week and remains offline after equipment failures ground the generators to a halt.

Mr de Brenni said one of the station’s four generators was expected to be back up and running on Wednesday and the remaining generators would progressively return to operation but insisted the state’s power supply was sufficient.

When quizzed by reporters about how the grid would cope if the ageing infrastructure at Callide failed during a period of sustained heat and stress on the electricity supply, he again insisted Queenslanders would not face blackouts.

Ms Palaszczuk and Energy Minister Mick de Brenni insist state’s power supply is healthy. Picture: Liam Kidston

“The advice that I get from the Australian Energy Market Operator is that the system in Queensland is healthy and stable and manageable,” Mr de Brenni told reporters on Monday afternoon.

“So we’re very confident that we’ll continue to be able to put downward pressure on prices and there will be adequate supply for both households and, of course, businesses.”

Annastacia Palaszczuk faced criticism after describing the station’s failings as “routine” but the Premier stood by the comments, saying the condition of the state’s coal-fired stations were in decline.

“We have an ageing fleet, that is nothing new — we know that,” she said.

“That is why we have a plan to transition (to renewable energy).”

Deputy Opposition Leader Jarrod Bleijie repeated LNP’s calls for an independent inquiry into the power station’s failings, demanding to know if the state government was adequately funding the maintenance of the generators.

“Can the government guarantee reliability and safe electricity for Queenslanders when we’ve seen four generators go down and collide last week?” he said.