Queensland power station probably not operational for days after explosion

A central Queensland coal-fired power station that caught fire and exploded is not expected to be operational for days as investigators work to determine the cause of the blaze.

Up to 400,000 people across Queensland, including as far south as Brisbane and the Gold Coast, were impacted by the major power outage at Callide power station in Biloela, about 145 kilometres north-west of Bundaberg, where a turbine caught fire causing several units to trip.

The Callide power station in Biloela, Queensland.

The fire caused chaos across the state from Rockhampton to the Gold Coast, after both units of Callide C tripped just before 2pm, causing instability on the grid.

Instability on the grid also resulted in operating units at Callide B and Stanwell and three units at Gladstone also tripping.

About 260 workers were evacuated from the station and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services established a 550-metre exclusion zone.

Electrical Trades Union state organiser Jason Young said the site would most likely not be operational for a few days.

He said the union would not recommend workers to return until the cause of the fire was determined and the station’s safety was “ironclad”, saying the incident was a “big issue” given there was hydrogen on site and volatile chemicals.

“That site won’t be operational for a few days,” Mr Young said.

“It took out some of the other units which has caused a massive power outage across Queensland.

“These are pretty volatile pieces of equipment and that’s a priority for us to ensure the safety of our members.

“We will be looking for ironclad guarantees around the safety of it for our members before we recommend our members go back into work and what caused it is going to be extremely interesting for us.

“The turbine itself spins at about 3000rpm [rotations per minute], weighs about 80 tonnes, so if that explodes and goes flying – in this case it didn’t occur – but death normally follows that kind of accident, so thankfully no one was injured this time.”

Queensland Ambulance Service said no one was injured during the incident, but multiple QFES and paramedic crews remained on scene until Tuesday night.

Queensland Conservation Council Director Dave Copeman said it was a relief no one was injured in the incident.

“This illustrates the devastating impact that relying on large, geographically concentrated thermal coal units can have, particularly as they age,” he said.

“The piece of infrastructure transmission operators most needed when this failure occurred was a large scale battery.

“It could have been delivering power to support the grid within seconds, and may have prevented the wider network failures.”

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said the Australian Energy Market Operator had been advised the issue should be resolved by 9.30pm.

“The best way to ensure this is done as quickly as possible is to conserve energy use,” he said.

“If you and your family are in a position to, please consider conserving energy by turning off appliances, heaters and reverse-cycle airconditioning.

“Commercial and industrial users can also contribute to the effort by reducing energy use where it’s safe to do so.”

In the state’s south-east, residents from the Gold Coast to Caboolture were affected by the large-scale outage, while Ergon Energy reported outages across Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Gladstone and Agnes Water.

There were more than 10,000 outages across the Cairns region, while Townsville recorded about 3000 outages.

Brisbane Airport also reported a 15-minute power outage, while the University of Queensland in Brisbane’s St Lucia also lost power.

The Gold Coast University Hospital was also affected and used emergency generators in the Intensive Care Unit.

Traffic was also impacted after traffic lights at several intersections throughout the south-east lost power, including several Brisbane suburbs.