CS Energy boss addresses Callide catastrophe

“It is too early to confidently provide a date for when the unit will be operational again.”

The CEO of CS Energy has spoken out about the Callide Power Station fire that wiped power from many parts of Queensland and New South Wales on Tuesday, revealing the damage to the impacted turbine is ‘significant’.

Andrew Bills spoke at Biloela on Wednesday, May 26, outlining what happened and what was yet to be figured out.

“We are relieved that everyone is accounted for and is safe,” Mr Bills said.

“There have been no injuries.”

He travelled to the power station near Biloela on Wednesday morning to check in with employees, and said CS Energy was providing support to them.

No jobs have been impacted by the incident, workers will be progressively brought back on site over the coming days, and the company intends to keep all of its 260 staff on, even if the affected unit can’t come back online.

What happened?

Mr Bills said there was a fire in the Turbine Hall for Callide C4 at 1.45pm on Tuesday, May 25.

It was spotted by workers and picked up by the control systems, according to Mr Bills.

Despite speculation of a hydrogen leak from a mechanical failure causing the explosion, it is not officially known what the cause or source was yet.

Subsequently, both Callide C units and one Callide B unit tripped offline.

A separate Callide B unit was already out for maintenance.

The site was then evacuated and all 236 personnel were accounted for and uninjured.

Mr Bills said emergency services then took control of the site.

A limited number of critical workers were allowed back in about 9.30pm when it was safe to do so.

Emergency services handed control back to CS Energy at midnight.

“Based on an initial inspection overnight, Unit 4 has experienced major damage and failure of the turbine,” Mr Bills said.

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

The damaged unit is jointly owned by CS Energy and Intergen and they will be working closely together as part of the repair process.

“We don’t know the cause that has led to it or the subsequent events,” he said.

Mr Bills also said it was not fully known if it was an explosion, saying there had only been ‘reports’ of this.

He has been inside the plant today and said it was ‘very quiet, which is unusual’.

“To turbine 4, you can see the damage there, it’s significant,” Mr Bills said.

Evacuation of Callide Power Station

What does it mean for the energy grid?

CS Energy is in constant contact with market operator AEMO and transmission network operator Powerlink as to the status of the plant.

The size of the impacted unit is 420MW.

“That unit is one of the most modern units in the fleet in Queensland and Australia - it’s only 20 years old,” Mr Bills said.

“It’s super critical, very efficient and it’s our intention to bring the unit back online.”

With the unit being so modern, he said the event was ‘catastrophic’ and it could not be put down to the age of the plant.

The impact to other plants has been ‘very limited’.

Mr Bills said information from this investigation would be shared across the whole industry.

“Anything we’ll be doing with this, we’ll be looking at Kogan as well.”

CS Energy CEO Andrew Bills addressing the media at the Callide Power Station. Photo: Lachlan Berlin

Where to now?

CS Energy is investigating the matter and is working to get the other turbines back online as soon as possible.

“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,” Mr Bills said.

He said it was also too early to say whether the damaged turbine would be able to be repaired.

CS Energy is now assessing the damage to the other three units in a bid to bring them back online over the next few days.

It is understood the cost of a turbine is $40 million, however Mr Bills said it was far too early to know how much the repairs would cost, or the damage done.

The plant was commissioned in 2001 with an expected end of life in 2037, however the company has dismissed claims the incident could reduce that lifespan.

CS Energy chair Jim Soorley said it was “deeply insensitive” for Member for Callide Colin Boyce to speculate about an early closure of Callide B, during the traumatic incident.
“No decision has been made to close any of our plant and the final decision regarding the actual closure of Callide B, and in fact any of CS Energy’s power stations, will be made by our shareholder the Queensland Government,” he said.
“CS Energy’s focus at this time is on working with emergency services to obtain safe access to the power station, supporting our employees and investigating the cause of the incident today.
“Mr Boyce should stick to the facts and not unnecessarily alarm Central Queenslanders.”

Mr Bills said the company’s intention was to get the unit back on and keep the plant running until 2037.

The company will provide further updates as it gains further access to the site and develops a plan to get the units running again.

A further update may be delivered Wednesday evening.