Callide C power plant to stay offline after suffering further delays
One of Queensland’s largest coal power generators will remain offline for longer after the operator said bad weather had played a part in delaying its return to service.
One of Queensland’s largest coal power generators will remain offline for longer after the operator said it has suffered further delays.
At least two units at the Callide C power station have been offline since May 2021 when a fire ripped through Queensland’s fifth largest coal power station, an outage that stoked concerns about rising wholesale electricity prices.
Callide C suffered a second catastrophe in October 2022, when part of the cooling towers collapsed. The generator had been due to return to partial service on January 24, but the operator said it would now return on February 29. Full capacity of the 420MW facility will return on July 31, three weeks later than planned.
CS Energy chief executive Darren Busine said progress had been made in returning one of the units to service, with construction of the cooling tower cells required to return the unit to service entering the final stages.
“However, weather conditions such as storms, wind and heat had led to work stoppages to ensure safety, with the consequent demobilisation and remobilisation of the workforce, and this had impacted momentum on site,” Mr Busine said.
“Adding to this, as we’ve entered the final stages of construction on unit three, the nature of the work has become more complicated and this complexity has impacted on the schedule.”
The Callide C plant near Biloela in central Queensland can generate up to 1540MW of electricity – about 30 per cent of the state’s demand during typical low demand periods.
The delay comes at a fortuitous time for the electricity market. Australian authorities had warned of a heightened risk of blackouts and wholesale price spikes this summer, but the grid has performed well amid some unseasonable weather. Still, had Callide C been operational the wholesale electricity price may have been even lower than it has been – which would have eventually flowed through to household and business bills when new tariffs are announced this year
The Callide C delay will also do little to aid tensions between the owners of the plant. The plant was operated and half-owned by the Queensland government’s CS Energy, and half by the privately held Genuity Group – which in turn is 25 per cent-owned by Czech energy investor Sev.en, with China Huaneng and Guangdong Energy controlling the rest. Genuity called in Deloitte as administrators last March after a dispute between its owners over funding for the estimated $390m cost of returning Callide C to service.
More than 2½ years on from the explosion at the coal-fired plant, an expert review of the incident – commissioned by CS Energy, and being conducted by forensic engineer Sean Brady – has still not been delivered, and Sev.en has headed to the Federal Court to demand answers, and potentially prepare the way for a damages claim against CS Energy and the Queensland government.
Queensland Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said Dr Brady’s review was not finished. “CS Energy has informed me it will be in a position to present technical findings from the investigation in the near future, so that the lessons learned can be shared with its peers in the generation industry.
“I am advised that Queensland will continue to have sufficient supply and reserve to meet forecasted demand, even with the updated return to service.”
Mr Busine said he could not say when Dr Brady’s report would be made public.
“In the meantime, we have a number of learnings that we have gleaned from our own investigations, from the work that the energy market operator has done, and from the work Dr Brady has been doing with us to understand the causes of the incident,” he said.
But Mr Busine insisted the delayed return to service would not drive up power bills.
“Wholesale electricity prices over the last 12 months in quarter one have come down around 50 per cent,” he said.
“We don’t expect that this short delay is going to cause a material change to the wholesale contract prices or the prices for consumers.”
