Investigation into Queensland power station explosion continues

Investigations are under way into the cause of an explosion in a central Queensland power station that left 400,000 people without electricity on Tuesday.

A fire at the Callide Power Station caused chaos across the state, from Rockhampton to the Gold Coast just before 2pm, and instability on the electricity grid.

Unit C4 at the station received major damage and a turbine failed but the cause of the fire was still unclear on Wednesday.

Power station operator CS Energy was working to understand how to repair the unit.

The instability also resulted in tripping at operating units at Callide C and B and Stanwell and three units at Gladstone.

About 236 workers were evacuated from the station and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services established a 550-metre exclusion zone.

The Callide power station in Biloela, Queensland.

Critical staff were allowed access to the site by 9.30pm. The control of the site was handed back to CS Energy by emergency services at midnight.

CFMEU mining and energy division spokesman Shane Brunker said it was “a miracle” no one was hurt in the explosion.

He said members believed there was a mechanical failure in the station.

“We believe the generator or the turbine has failed, which has then caused hydrogen leaks and oil leaks, which then fires a combustible fuel and then, of course, there’s the explosion,” he said.

Mr Brunker said if the turbine failed, it would take up to one year to restore.

He said the workers were not expected to be at risk of job losses.

CS Energy chief executive officer Andrew Bills said he checked on employees on Wednesday and had seen the scene firsthand.

“I understand blackouts are disruptive. That’s why our focus is on understanding the cause of the incident and, importantly, what needs to be done to get our units safely back online,” he said.

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni told ABC Radio Brisbane all agencies had worked throughout the night to ensure there would be no further outages.

“This morning the supply of electricity in Queensland exceeds the demand,” he said.

Mr de Brenni said one of four turbines at the Callide power station was badly damaged.

“They’re still to determine exactly what the cause of that foreign explosion was but the good news from early indications is that the other three units there look to be in good condition,” he said.

“That means that we’ll be able to get those back online as soon as possible and that’s important so that we continue to increase the amount of supply available and, ultimately, restabilise the network.

“I think this really underscores just how important it is that we have a diversity in our electricity generation fleet,” he said.

“We had our power stations and our wind farms operating last night, we had Wivenhoe pump hydro operating last night, and those facilities will continue to operate to support electricity and keep the lights on while we restore power out of Callide.”

Mr de Brenni said the power outage would not affect household power prices.

However, Queensland Senator Matthew Canavan said Australia’s “neglected” power system led to the outage.

“We’ve been holding our energy system together with gaffer tape for the last few years and yesterday it snapped,” he told Nine’s Today show.

“It is not good enough that one event can cause an entire system to go down.

“We are now told this could be out for years.”

Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor told 4BC’s Breakfast with Neil Breen the incident showed how fragile systems were.

“We did have a sneak preview yesterday of what happens if we lose our coal-fired generators without appropriate replacement,” he said.

“It’s why I say time and time and time again we’ve got to maintain a balance in our energy systems that manages this fragility.”

- with Cloe Read