UPDATE AS OF 1PM
As work continues on safely restoring three of Callide Power Station’s generating units to service, CEO Andrew Bills has praised the efforts of the employees who were first on the scene at the plant incident on Tuesday (25 May).
“Having spent the last three days in Biloela speaking with employees and holding daily town hall meetings, I am learning more about the actions of the employees who were in the vicinity of Unit C4 at the time of the incident,” Mr Bills said.
“I’ve seen some comments in the media referring to the outcome of no injuries as a miracle, but this does not do justice to the training, competency and professionalism of our people who ensured everyone evacuated the site safely.
“I have personally spoken with our first responders and their actions need to be commended.”
Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen Mick de Brenni is meeting with workers today in Biloela and will see the work underway at Callide Power Station.
Approximately 60 to 70 employees are on site today, as work continues on restoring the remaining three generating units following the major failure of the Callide C4 unit on Tuesday afternoon.
Mr Bills said the focus was on safely returning the two Callide B units to service next week, followed by Unit C3.
CS Energy has informed the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) that three generating units will be returned to service sequentially from the 5 June and anticipate all three units being online by 9 June.
CS Energy’s first priority is to bring the units back safely. The return to service dates are based on the information that CS Energy has available at this point in time and these dates will be updated when we learn more.
CS Energy has informed AEMO that Unit C4 will be available in 12 months.
Mr Bills said work had begun on establishing an investigation into what caused the failure on the Callide C4 unit.
“It is too early to speculate as to the cause of the incident and we need to undertake a thorough and comprehensive investigation working with all authorities and regulators to determine the cause of this failure,” he said.
“It is not helpful to speculate at this early stage on what the cause was. CS Energy will work closely with our JV partner InterGen as part of the investigation process.”
CS Energy owns 100 per cent of Callide B (B1 and B2) and owns Callide C (C3 and C4) in a 50/50 joint venture (JV) with InterGen. Through the JV arrangement, CS Energy provides operations and maintenance services to Callide C.
Callide Power Station has a permanent workforce of 260 people.
CS Energy will provide the next update for media on Monday 31 May (unless there is new information over the weekend).