Power station damage ‘major’ but ‘diverse network’ saved state

The price of energy surged to a staggering high of $15,000 a megawatt in Queensland after the “catastrophic failure” at Callide Power Station, which will leave one of the station's four generators offline indefinitely.

The price of energy surged to a staggering high of $15,000 per megawatt in Queensland after the “catastrophic failure” at Callide Power Station, but Queenslanders won’t suffer bill shock.

Data from the Australian Electricity Market Operator (AEMO) revealed the spot price, or how much generators could make by supplying energy into the grid, spiked to $15,000 per megawatt hour on Tuesday afternoon.

This is the highest price the AEMO will allow it go, meaning generators that kicked in to gear to supply the system when they were called upon would have made a motza as demand surged to about 6000 MW.

But Queenslanders won’t be hit with the cost in their next bill, as retailers smooth out the price spikes over the financial year.

It comes as the Queensland Government reveals power has been restored to all homes and businesses affected by the incident.

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said the Australian Energy Market Operator was confident there would be sufficient supply to meet demand going forward.

“While we originally prepared for load shedding to occur across the state, I’m pleased to report this was not required last night,” he said.

“The network is now stabilised, meaning Queenslanders can be confident in reliable supply.

“I thank them for their patience and understanding during this unprecedented event.”

One of the four generators at Callide Power Station has suffered ‘major’ damage in Tuesday’s explosion and fire and will be offline indefinitely, its operators have revealed.

CS Energy boss Andrew Bills says critical staff were allowed back into the power plant overnight to inspect damage.

“Based on an initial inspection overnight, Unit C4 has experienced major damage and failure of the turbine,” he said.

“It will take some time to fully understand the cause of the failure and the steps that will need to take to repair the unit.

“The unit that has been damaged is jointly owned by CS Energy and Intergen and we will be working closely with our joint venture partner as part of this process.

“It is too early to confidently provide a date for when the unit will be operational again. But as soon as we know, we will share this information.

“We are assessing the damage to the other three units. This will be our priority today so that we can work out a plan to bring those units back safely.

“We are in constant contact with AEMO the market operator and Powerlink the transmission network operator as to the status of our plant.

“A full investigation with appropriate experts and authorities will be undertaken to understand what has occurred and led to what appears to be a major incident.

“As we gain greater access to the site and develop a plan to return the units to operation we will provide further updates.”

Callide Power Station after a fire. Photo - Steve Vit

It comes as Queensland’s diverse power network has enabled the state to bounce back from Tuesday’s ‘unprecedented’ energy blackout, Mr de Brenni said.

Mr de Brenni told breakfast television the state’s power grid “is stable” after a turbine fire at central Queensland’s Callide power station.

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“We have a diverse and publicly-owned generation network,” he said.

“It’s everything from nearly 700,00 households with rooftop solar, solar farms, wind farms, pumped hydroelectricity and a fleet of coal-fired generators.

“They’re all operating at full steam this morning.”

Mr de Brenni revealed the Callide Power Station, one of Australia’s youngest, was up to date with its servicing and maintenance.

“It does underscore that electricity generation is a dangerous task,” he said.

“It also underscores the importance of our diversified network.

“Everything from solar to thermal generation to our pumped hydroelectricity all worked together as a network yesterday to ensure our grid was stable.”

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