Add Category
Parts of a major central Queensland power station are offline after a structural failure damaged two cells at a cooling plant.
Key points:
- The C3 Unit at the Callide Power Station is offline after a structural failure at its cooling plant
- No-one was injured in the incident on Monday
- It comes less than two years after a catastrophic failure at the station's C4 unit
The incident occurred at the cooling plant of the Callide Power Station's C3 Unit on Monday, operator CS Energy confirmed.
"Nobody was injured when the incident occurred and Unit C3 has been taken offline as a precaution, with restricted access to the area," a spokesperson for CS Energy said.
"Engineers are currently assessing the damage and the repairs required to make the area safe and return the unit to operation.
"CS Energy has also notified Workplace Health and Safety Queensland."
Callide Power Station is a coal-fired power station providing baseload electricity to the national grid.
According to the state government-owned corporation, the cooling plant for the C3 Unit is a long horizontal structure, about 15 metres high and comprised of 36 cooling cells.
Two cells were damaged in the structural failure.
Mining and Energy Union Queensland vice president Shane Brunker said "it was very lucky that no-one was hurt".
"We have major concerns around the whole [safety] process," he said.
But CS Energy, which operates the C Unit in a 50-50 joint venture with InterGen Australia, said the "health and safety of CS Energy's people is its highest priority".
"The Callide C [joint venture] has advised the market that Unit C3 will return to service on [November 21]," the spokesperson said.
"The return-to-service date is based on the information that the [joint venture] has available at this point in time and may be subject to further change."
Second incident in less than two years
It is the second incident in just under two years at the power station, after the C4 unit caught fire and exploded during a catastrophic incident on May 25, 2021.
No-one was injured in that incident either, but some 470,000 homes and businesses across Queensland, from north of Cairns down to the Gold Coast, were left without power.
That unit is currently in the process of being rebuilt.
Mr Brunker said it was "very concerning" a second incident had occurred at the power station.
"They keep pushing and pushing these units to breaking point," he said.
"We're going to see more of these types of failures and let's hope no-one gets hurt.
"These units are an asset of Queenslanders and they need to be looked after, otherwise they're either going to hurt someone or run them into the ground and Queensland will be out of coal-fire power generation earlier than what they're expecting under the new [energy] plan."
The CS Energy spokesperson said the C4 Unit is expected to return to service in April next year.
Callide Power Station is comprised of two power plants, Callide B and C, each with two generating units (B1 and B2, C3 and C4).
Units B1 and B2 were unaffected by the incident and are continuing to generate electricity.