Australian Energy Regulator hauls Callide Power Trading to court over May 2021 incident
The Australian Energy Regulator alleges failures to comply with performance standards at the power station led to the explosion at the major Queensland site.
Australia’s energy watchdog is taking one of Queensland’s largest state-owned coal stations to court for failing to perform to national standards after a catastrophic explosion that cut generating capacity from the east coast grid and triggered mass blackouts.
The Australian Energy Regulator has launched legal action against the trading arm of Queensland government-run Callide Power Station over the mysterious May 2021 catastrophe that led to the tripping of multiple generators and high voltage transmission lines in the state.
Liberal National Party energy spokeswoman Deb Frecklington said it had been almost 1000 days since the explosion and Queensland taxpayers were still waiting for answers.
“In the middle of Queensland’s cost-of-living crisis, the seriousness of this development cannot be overstated,” she said.
“This is like the energy police charging the Queensland government for its crimes at Callide power plant.”
After its investigation, AER alleges Callide Power Trading breached national electricity rules by failing to ensure its plant met or exceeded applicable performance standards. It also allegedly failed to plan and design its facilities and ensure they were operated to comply with those performance standards.
The failure of Callide C4’s protection systems to disconnect the generating unit from the power system resulted in the trip of multiple generators, the AER found.
Legal action by the regulator is the latest in a series of blows to Callide C, which is owned by the government’s CS Energy in a joint venture.
Last month the Federal Court slammed more than two years of futile efforts to investigate the catastrophic failures and backed Czech coal tycoon Pavel Tykac’s bid for a fresh probe into the disaster, as revealed by The Australian.
No public explanation has been given for the explosion at Callide C, which stripped 10 per cent of Queensland’s generating capacity out of the east coast grid and helped push power prices to crisis point on several occasions.
Forensic engineer Sean Brady was commissioned by CS Energy in June 2021 to investigate the causes of the failures, but his report is yet to be handed to the government.
The full contents of the investigation’s findings may not be made public due to commercial reasons, but Energy Minister Mick de Brenni has said CS Energy intends to release “technical lessons from this incident so it doesn’t happen again”.
In a statement, Mr de Brenni said he would not comment on specifics of the AER’s legal action as the matter was before the courts.
“I acknowledge the findings of the Australian Energy Regulator and anticipate the finalisation of the Brady review to provide further analysis of what occurred at Callide,” he said.
“I am confident that after meeting with workers at the Callide power station, safety and protocol standards are of the utmost importance to CS Energy and its operations.”
Federal Court judge Roger Derrington ordered special purpose administrators be appointed to investigate the causes of the 2021 explosion and 2022 partial collapse of the cooling tower at the central Queensland plant.
The Weekend Australian understands that as well as hiring a technical expert, the new administrators – FTI Consulting’s John Park and Benjamin Campbell – will hold public examinations of key witnesses in the Federal Court.
Spending on repairs and maintenance at the Callide plant will be a major focus.
The entity’s shareholding ministers, Mr de Brenni and Treasurer Cameron Dick, former board members and experts could be forced to give evidence under oath about the operation, funding and maintenance of the power plant in the lead-up to the failures.
Queensland’s workplace health and safety prosecutor is also considering legal action over the explosion.
Callide C has repeatedly failed to meet scheduled returns after the 2021 explosion and 2022 cooling tower collapse and is not due to be fully operational until July 31.
As part of its civil proceedings, the AER is seeking pecuniary penalties, declarations, orders for remedying the breach or preventing the recurrence of the breach, and costs.
AER board member Justin Oliver said adhering to generator performance standards was “critical” to safe operations.
“Failure to comply with these standards can risk power system security, see consumers disconnected from power supply and cause wholesale energy prices to increase during and beyond these events,” he said.
“It’s vital that registered participants and generators are aware of their performance standards and comply with them at all times so that the market and consumers aren’t wrongly exposed to the consequences of adverse events.”
Callide Power Trading, a 50:50 joint venture between IGPC and Callide Energy, is the registered market participant for the Callide C power station. It said it would “work co-operatively with the Australian Energy Regulator to resolve this matter as soon as possible”.
