CS Energy CEO Darren Busine has acknowledged the efforts of employees and contractors for the progress made in Callide C Power Station’s recovery since the Unit C4 incident on 25 May 2021.
“Callide Unit C3 returned to service last month and is generating electricity for Queenslanders, following a thorough commissioning and testing process of its new cooling tower,” Mr Busine said.
“Our current focus is the construction of the new C4 cooling tower to enable Unit C4 to return to service in the middle of this year.
“In addition, the team at Callide has been preserving the new generator, turbine and other replacement components that were installed in 2023, ensuring they are in the best condition when the unit is ready to return to service.
“They are preparing to begin the commissioning program in the coming months, which will include a series of detailed tests and quality assurance checks to ensure the new and replaced equipment works seamlessly with the balance of plant. This will include having experts from Toshiba and Siemens on the ground to assist in testing.
“Our team of employees and contractors have put in more than 570,000 hours of work so far on the Unit C4 recovery works,” Mr Busine said. “I thank everyone involved for their hard work on what has been a unique and challenging project.”
As outlined in our C4 technical findings report issued in February, CS Energy has made changes to the design of the unit to introduce more redundancy and controls.
“We have been working with engineering experts Worley to identify enhancements we can make to our asset plans and systems to further strengthen the safety of our people and plant.
“We remain committed to continual improvement and taking action to improve safety in our business as we learn more about the 2021 incident so we can deliver reliable and safe energy for Queensland.”
BACKGROUND
Callide Power Station is comprised of two power plants, Callide B and C, each with two generating units (B1 and B2, C3 and C4).
CS Energy (through its subsidiary Callide Energy Pty Ltd) owns Callide C in a 50/50 joint venture with IG Power (Callide) Limited. CS Energy operates Callide C on behalf of the JV.
CS Energy owns 100 per cent of the neighbouring Callide B Power Station.