Callide Unit C4 recovery
The safety and wellbeing of our people is our priority following the incident in Unit C4 at Callide Power Station.
Background
On 25 May 2021 an incident occurred on Unit C4, which resulted in an explosion, substantial damage to the unit and forced it offline. Shortly afterwards Callide’s other operating units tripped and went offline.
Our first priority was to make sure workers and the Callide site were safe. The power station was fully evacuated and nobody was injured.
Since then, our focus has been on helping our Callide team deal with this incident and safely bring the power station’s other units back online.
After a tremendous effort involving more than 300 employees and contractors, both Callide B station units were returned to service in June and Unit C3 in July.
An independent investigation has been commissioned to understand what caused this incident, so that we can learn from it and prevent it from happening again.
latest updates
Investigation
CS Energy is committed to understanding the facts that led to the C4 event so we can learn from it and improve the safety of our people and plant.
Forensic engineer Dr Sean Brady has been engaged to lead an external, independent investigation and review. Dr Brady is based in Queensland and recently completed the Brady Review, an investigation into the causes of fatalities in the state’s mining and quarrying industry.
Alongside this independent investigation, there are other stakeholders investigating what has occurred at Callide, including Workplace Health & Safety Queensland and the Australian Energy Market Operator.
The safety and wellbeing of our staff continues to be our key priority throughout this process.
faqs
Cause
It's too early to speculate about cause of the incident on Unit C4. Forensic engineer Dr Sean Brady is leading an external, independent investigation and review of the incident on Unit C4.
The scope of the investigation will be broad in nature and will assess both technical and organisational factors that could have contributed to the C4 incident.
A report will be published with findings from the investigation so that the lessons learned can be shared with our peers in the power generation industry.
Investigation
Dr Brady has been given the authority to expand the scope of the investigation based on progressive findings. As a result, the timeframes for finalising the investigation cannot be confirmed at this stage and will instead be provided as the investigation progresses and more information becomes available.
Repairs to C4
CS Energy owns Callide C in a 50/50 joint venture (JV) with InterGen Australia. The JV has advised the market that Unit C4 will return to service in December 2022. This date is based on the information that the Callide C joint venture has available and will be updated as we learn more. The timeframe is based on our best estimates at this point in time.
CS Energy and our JV partner InterGen Australia are developing a plan to replace the C4 turbine and generator, and we are working closely with our respective insurers on the potential cost and timeline.