‘Structural failure’ leaves major Qld power station down another generator

The state’s second-largest power station has lost another generator just weeks before a planned $7 million repair program.

A generator unit at Queensland’s second-largest power station has been forced offline until at least November 21 due to a “structural failure”, with the incident taking place just weeks before a planned $7m repair program.

State-owned CS Energy confirmed 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.

It confirmed nobody was injured.

The Callide Power Station.

There had already been “restricted access” to C3 amid concerns when the incident occurred on October 31, with CS Energy confirming multiple inspections and checks had been conducted at Callide C this year.

It was confirmed a $7m repair program was due to take place in December 2022.

Nearly half a million homes and businesses across the state and down into NSW lost power in May 2021 after C4 at Callide Power Station caught fire and exploded.

The combination of C3 and C4 being offline means Queensland is without 840MW of coal-fired power generation capacity.

The C4 generator after it exploded. Picture: Supplied

CS Energy chief executive Andrew Bills visited Callide C on Wednesday, as did Workplace Health and Safety Queensland

In a statement, CS Energy also noted an investigation “into the root cause of the incident” and to assess the full scale of repairs was being carried out.

CS Energy, and its joint venture partner Intergen, have informed the National Electricity Market it anticipates C3 to be back online on November 21, though this is subject to change.

C4, the unit that exploded in 2021, will return to service in April 2023.

CFMMEU Mining and Energy Vice President Shane Brunker said there were known structural deficiencies in the cooling tower, which seemed to have collapsed.

Mr Brunker, who is set to be on the ground to speak to workers on Thursday, said CS Energy would be “pushing” to get the unit up and running by November 21 considering the scale of the damage.

He laid blame on the government and government-owned energy entities for failing to properly maintain the units.

Originally published as ‘Structural failure’ leaves major Qld power station down another generator