Union to strike at Queensland’s sixth-largest power station in threat to energy supplies and prices

Workers will this week begin industrial action at the Kogan Creek Power station, Queensland’s sixth-largest coal generator.

Workers will this week begin industrial action at the CS Energy-owned Kogan Creek Power station, Queensland’s sixth-largest coal generator, a union said, in a move that threatens to add upward pressure on household and business bills.

The Mining & Energy Union, which represents operators, fitters, electricians, and power workers at the Kogan Creek power station, said workers will from Thursday begin to refuse work orders, operating conveyors and stop working at heights – action that they said will have an immediate impact on the generation capacity of the plant.

The MEU said the Kogan Creek station near Chinchilla supplies 10 per cent of Queensland’s power and much of northern NSW.

Queensland’s energy grid can ill-afford curtailed output from Kogan Creek, as one of its largest coal power generators – Callide C – remains offline after a fire ripped through the state’s fifth-largest generator in May 2021.

Curtailed production from the 750MW Kogan Creek facility threatens to add upward pressure to the wholesale cost of producing electricity across Australia’s National Electricity Market. Higher wholesale prices eventually flow through to the bills of households and businesses – though this would not occur until 2024.

MEU Queensland district vice-president Shane Brunker said the Queensland government must move to avoid protracted action, which has the capacity to escalate quickly and affect power generation across Queensland.

Workers will this week begin industrial action at the Kogan Creek Power station.

“CS Energy needs direction from government at the negotiating table to finish these negotiations, otherwise there will be dire consequences for energy security running into the peak period of summer power generation in this state,” Mr Brunker said.

Mr Brunker said the union is seeking more security for workers after Queensland announced its intention to mothball all its state-owned coal power generators by 2035, and also higher wages for contractors.

Queensland’s fleet of state-owned generators were previously expected to run until 2046 – under the new plan some would stop regularly burning coal nearly a decade earlier.

State Premier Anna Palaszczuk said Queensland would end its reliance on coal power by 2035, convert the generators to clean energy hubs, and keep them as “backup capacity” until replacement pumped hydro energy storage was operational and reliable.

To achieve its ambition, however, Queensland will need to rapidly reshape its energy mix. The state is the most coal-dependent in the country, and little more than 20 per cent of its energy comes from renewables, though it is widely seen as having an abundance of natural advantages to allow for a rapid rise in zero-emission energy generation.

State-owned CS Energy said plans were in place to minimise the impact, but did not specify whether output would remain unchanged.

“CS Energy has been negotiating in good faith to establish a new enterprise agreement for the Kogan Creek Power Station. CS Energy has made an offer that will provide employees with generous terms and conditions,” the company said in a statement.

“Kogan Creek Power Station is continuing to generate electricity and we have plans in place to ensure the safety of our people and plant, and minimise the impact of the proposed industrial action.”