Callide Power Station

Thermal power station Primary fuelCoalTurbine technologySteam turbinesCooling sourceFreshPower generation Units operational8Nameplate capacity1,720 MW

Callide Power Station is an electricity generator at Mount Murchison, Shire of Banana, Queensland, Australia. It is coal powered with eight steam turbines with a combined generation capacity of 1,720 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Callide A was commissioned in 1965, refurbished in 1998 and decommissioned in 2015/16.^[2] As of 2018, generation capacity was 1510 MW.^[2]

The coal for Callide comes from the nearby Callide Coalfields and water from the Awoonga dam and Stag Creek Pipeline.^[3]

An explosion and fire at the Callide C power plant in late May 2021 caused a significant power outage that affected over 375,000 premises and raised electricity prices for weeks afterwards.

November 2022 all four units at the coal-fired Callide Power Station were not operating after a structural failure at the cooling plant brought the C3 unit offline, and later on the B2 unit tripped during scheduled testing, followed by the last unit, B1, also tripping.^[4][5]

CS Energy owns 100 per cent of Callide A and Callide B, and owns Callide C in a 50/50 joint venture with IG Power.

Callide A

At the end of 1962 approval was granted for a new power station near Biloela.^[6] Work commenced at the site in February 1963. The design of the plant based around separate generating units and a control room was a first for Queensland.^[6] It was also the first power station in Queensland to use dry cooling towers.^[6]

It had four 30 MW steam turbines, the first of which was operating by June 1965. From its commissioning a drought meant water restrictions at the station reduced output.^[6] The second set was expected to be operating by May 1966, but was lost at sea while being transported from England.^[6] A replacement unit arrived in June 1967. The third set was operating in October 1967 and the fourth in May 1969.^[6] The total cost of the project was A$28.7 million.^[6]

Callide A has been in storage since 2001, except for Unit 4 which was being used for the Callide Oxyfuel project.^[7] The Callide Oxyfuel project was decommissioned in 2015/16 after demonstrating carbon capture technology for two years.^[2]

Callide B

Following on from an aggressive construction program at Tarong Power Station, Callide B was commissioned in 1988 with two 350 MW steam turbines. The Hitachi machines are almost identical to those in Tarong and Stanwell.

In October 2019, Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor announced that Callide B's originally planned 2038-39 closure was being brought forward to 2028.^[8]

Callide C

The Callide Power Plant (a.k.a. Callide C) was commissioned in 2001 with two 405 MW advanced cycle steam turbines.^[9] Callide C uses a more efficient "supercritical" boiler technology to burn coal to generate electricity.^[10] It was built to operate to 2050.^[11]

Carbon Monitoring for Action estimates this power station emits 5.73 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year as a result of burning coal.^[12] The Australian Government introduced a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in 2011 to help combat climate change, intended to reduce emissions from power stations. The scheme was replaced in 2014 by a 'direct action' program. The National Pollutant Inventory provides details of other pollutant emissions, but, as at 23 November 2008, not CO₂.^[13]

On 25 May 2021, an explosion and subsequent fire at Callide C caused a significant power outage (including Callide B and parts of Stanwell and Gladstone power stations)^[14] that affected over 375,000 premises,^[15][16][17] and caused increased power prices for weeks.^[18] The hydrogen-filled generator had a catastrophic failure, resulting in significant damage. Despite speculation that the plant would close, it was repaired at an estimated cost of $200M and reoponed in April 2024.^[19]

The coverup continues who is “Shift Change” ? Are you the technical editor contracted to CS Energy?

The simple fact is unit C4 was forced out of service by Ignorance

1/ A HV Switching was carried out without informing the unit C4 unit operator.

2/ The 220V Critical Battery Supply was disconnected from the unit 220V DC.

3/ The Insurance has refused the $300M claim by CSEnergy.

4/ The RTS insurance is self insurance as nobody is prepared to provide cover.

5/ The cost of rebuilding is to be covered by the QLD government.

6/ Stop the coverup and return the C4 Unit to service.

Queensland’s embattled Callide Power Station has been crippled by industrial action amid an enterprise agreement dispute, as a fierce political blame game continues over the cause of a 2021 catastrophic blaze at the state-owned facility. The Mining and Energy Union chapter of the CFMEU said workers would limit productivity and ‘‘ grind things down’ ’ at the central Queensland site run by state-owned corporation CS Energy, warning that ongoing action in the coming days would ultimately risk increasing energy prices. The union’s state vice-president , Shane Brunker, said workers were calling for fair redundancy provisions and career transition support ahead of the power station’s planned partial closure in 2027. He said the lack of career development opportunities had frustrated staff, given the state government’s repeated claims that it would provide transition pathways as it moves away from a reliance on coal and embarks on an ambitious transition to renewable energy. The state has committed to an emissions reduction target of 75 per cent on 2005 levels by 2035, with 80 per cent of the grid to be powered by renewable energy by the same time. ‘‘ We need training so these workers, when they go on to the open market, are attractive,’’ Mr Brunker told The Australian Financial Review. ‘‘ CS Energy is just contracting everything out – there’s supervisory roles or career progression [that our workers don’t get an opportunity] to go into because they just want to bring contractors in and appoint contractors over the top of permanent workers.’’ The industrial action comes after a damning internal review into the plant’s explosion more than three years ago blamed a failure of management to understand technical risks. It also cited an alarming backlog in maintenance at the power station run by CS Energy and its joint-venture partners. This is despite repeated assurances from Queensland Labor ministers, who provided guarantees to parliament in the last three years that the upkeep concerns did not play a part in the fire , which left about half-a-million homes without power and led to a surge in electricity prices. Energy Minister Mick de Brenni, a shareholding minister of CS Energy, rejected assertions of this nature in the days after the explosion: ‘‘ We can guarantee all of the maintenance work that is required to be done on all of our power stations has been done.’’ The revelation of the maintenance concerns in the draft report from forensic engineer Sean Brady turned the blowtorch on to Mr de Brenni, with the LNP opposition demanding his resignation . But the minister yesterday blamed senior members of the CS Energy board who have since been replaced, most notably the former chairman – and former Labor Brisbane lord mayor – Jim Soorley. ‘‘ I relied on advice {that was provided to me by the CEO and the chair on the date of that incident,’’ Mr de Brenni said. ‘‘ The CEO provided me incorrect advice. The board and the chair provided me incorrect advice. ‘‘ Dr Brady’s report makes it very clear, in terms of the incident on the day and the matters leading up to that. . . those individuals involved in that, leading that organisation, are no longer with CS Energy.’’ Mr Brunker said workers had been vindicated by the review findings and that CS Energy and the government had ‘‘ to wear some of the criticism’’ . ‘‘ It’s come out in the report they were forcing cost-cutting , and cost-cutting only means one thing when you’ve got critical infrastructure – shortcuts will lead to disaster, catastrophic failures,’’ he said. Copyright © 2024 Australian Financial Review

Richard Baum.

See also

• List of active power stations in Queensland
• List of coal-fired power Stations in Australia

References

External links

• CS Energy page on Callide
• Callide Coal-Fired Power Stations, Queensland, Australia