Callide Power Station in Biloela completely offline as all four units not operating

Callide Power Station was completely offline after its final unit tripped on Friday morning after days of compounding issues rendered the entire facility non-operational. Here’s what it means for households.

Industry figureheads are pointing the finger of blame at the rush to renewables amid fears critical failures at a major coal-fired power station in Central Queensland could lead to blackouts and load shedding.

Callide Power Station is not operating after compounding equipment failures this week culminated in the entire facility being removed from the grid.

Following days of increasing problems at the Biloela facility — including a structural failure at the cooling plant and a unit tripping during scheduled testing — the Callide Power Station was taken completely offline on Friday morning.

With two units taken down earlier this week, and a third unit still not repaired from an explosion in May 2021 which saw almost half a million Queensland homes and businesses lose power, the final unit is understood to have tripped on Friday.

Callide Power Station is offline today. Picture: William Debois

CS Energy confirmed all four units at the coal-fired Callide Power Station at Biloela were not operating.

The facility comprises of two power stations, Callide B and Callide C, which host two generators each.

Unit C3 at Callide Power Station had been taken offline after a “structural failure” of part of the unit’s cooling plant on Monday, the second major incident at the plant in 18 months.

On Tuesday, the B2 unit tripped during scheduled testing.

CFMMEU Mining and Energy vice president Shane Brunker said the final unit, B1, also tripped Friday morning.

It comes after it was revealed the replacement C4 generator destined for the Callide Power Station was stranded at Gladstone’s Port as unsuitable bridges left authorities “scrambling” to find an alternative route.

“Workers have been alarmed to look up and see plumes of steam and dust, they are very concerned about what’s going on at Callide,” Mr Brunker said.

“We are relieved no-one has been hurt during the failures and malfunctions this week, but it has been a real possibility.

“At this stage it’s not clear that CS Energy site management is able to get the power station back up and running.

“Callide Power Station is crucial for providing baseline power for Queensland. This week’s events confirm workers’ fears that investment in maintenance of the power station has been neglected in the race to shut down coal power and move to renewables.”

Mr Brunker said the State Government needed to step in to ensure the Callide Power Station was being responsibly managed and maintenance and repairs were being prioritised.

“The focus should be on investing in the existing fleet and exploring opportunities to improve them rather than running them down,” he said.

“This should include carbon capture and storage which has been proven in Queensland already including at Callide A.”

Mr Brunker is not the only one raising questions over the renewables push, with deputy executive director of the Institute of

Public Affairs Daniel Wild saying the shutdown was a frightening reminder of how fragile Australia’s energy system is

“The vulnerabilities caused by the total shutdown of Callide has again exposed the consequences of removing affordable and reliable baseload power stations from the National Energy Market,” said Mr Wild.

“Having power stations like Callide fail, especially while others are offline for maintenance, demonstrates the crisis awaiting us when baseload power stations are prematurely abandoned and taken out of the National Energy Market.

“This is just the beginning of a long hot summer for Queenslanders, who now can have little confidence that the lights or their air-conditioners will switch on.

“It is astonishing that in the year 2022 how any political leader believes it is acceptable to risk market-wide blackouts by forcing reliable and affordable baseload power off the market in the name of net zero.

“Australia’s politicians have completely distorted our energy market through commitments to net zero and highly subsidised renewables. This has pushed reliable and affordable baseload power generation off the grid and has created the possible scenario we face today with Callide coming offline.”

CS Energy CEO, Andrew Bills confirmed urgent repairs were being carried out to multiple units at Callide and admitted the plant’s reliability was ‘not good enough’.

“I have been at Callide Power Station this week talking with our people and unions to address their concerns,” Mr Bills said.

“Our immediate focus is to work methodically and safely to restore these units to service as quickly as possible.

“The unavailability of our generating units is the result of a number of concurrent yet distinct issues.”

CS Energy revealed unit B1 went offline early Friday morning due to a feed pump vibration but was returned to service mid Friday morning at low load and its performance was being monitored.

Unit B2, however, has been off since November 1 when during four-yearly scheduled testing, cabling in the unit’s bottom ash conveying system was damage.

The company said this damage was detected by the unit’s automated control system and the team on site, who acted quickly to make it safe.

Unit B2 is expected to be returned to service on November 9.

The return of Callide’s C3 and C4 units is delayed, with Unit C3’s return to service date pushed out from November 21, 2022 to January 3, 2023, due to the structural failure of part of its cooling plant earlier this week.

Unit C4, which has been offline since the explosion in May 2021, is not expected to return to service until April 2023, with the Queensland Energy Minister confirming there was no plan to change the due date.

Minister Mick De brenni said maintenance of energy generation assets are subject to both regulation and high standards of good engineering practice, and he was assured all obligations were being met.

‘The Queensland energy system is made up of a broad mix of energy generation including coal, gas, wind, solar and hydro – the system remains secure, and available supply currently exceeds demand,” Mr De Brenni said.

“There is currently a workplace health and safety investigation into the C3 cooling tower and I will consider the findings as a matter of priority when they’re available,” he said.

Originally published as Callide Power Station in Biloela completely offline as all four units not operating