CS Energy has today released the Brady Heywood Report into the 2021 Callide Unit C4 incident and the investigation report into the 2022 Callide Unit C3 partial cooling tower collapse, alongside CS Energy’s action plan to bolster the safety, reliability and resilience of its operations.
CS Energy Chair Adam Aspinall said:
“Today, I welcome the finalisation of the Brady Heywood Report into the C4 incident, which we received yesterday and which has been published on our website. This provides an opportunity for CS Energy to make things right.
“We are also releasing the investigation report into the C3 cooling tower incident, with many of the technical factors identified in the report addressed as a result of the decision to demolish and rebuild the C3 and C4 cooling towers.
“As the current Chair of CS Energy, I apologise to our employees, the Government and the people of Queensland for CS Energy not having maintained the world class performance which they have rightly come to expect from their government owned assets.
“In releasing these reports, I acknowledge there are lessons for both CS Energy and the broader energy industry, and we are committed to sharing these lessons so that we can help the whole industry maintain best practice.
“Alongside these reports, we are releasing our plan to become a safer and better business.
“Since I started working in the Queensland electricity generation industry in the 1980s, the industry has always been recognised for its strong technical capability and performance. Throughout the decades, it has set and re-set world records for power station reliability, the time between outages of units and the short timeframe of major overhauls.
“The Queensland industry has been the benchmark for efficiency and effectiveness of its operations.
“I acknowledge that in recent times CS Energy has not consistently achieved these world class standards in all its operations.
“CS Energy has experienced two significant incidents, with the catastrophic failure of the C4 turbine in May 2021 and the partial collapse of the C3 cooling tower in October 2022.
“Despite no one being injured as a result of these incidents, these are unacceptable outcomes for the people of Queensland who trusted CS Energy to manage these assets on their behalf.
“The Brady Heywood Report found CS Energy’s process safety management systems were not where they needed to be, however the business’ assessment was a more positive view of the maturity of our management systems. This is something that CS Energy is addressing.
“Working within the constraints of the Callide C joint venture (JV) has further complicated CS Energy’s operations. The ownership of the Callide C Power Station is a 50/50 JV structure between CS Energy’s subsidiary Callide Energy Pty Ltd and IG Power (Callide) Limited, with CS Energy operating Callide C station on their behalf. JVs are complex, particularly 50/50 JVs where both owners have to agree on decisions. The Callide C JV is no different and the Brady Heywood Report noted that the JV has historically experienced delays in decision making because owners have been unable to agree on items at various times.
“I know that the trust of our stakeholders, including the Queensland Government and the community, has been damaged by the catastrophic failure of the C4 turbine and then the partial collapse of the C3 cooling tower. My personal challenge is to rebuild that trust.
“The briefings provided by companies like CS Energy to Government form the basis on which Government updates the people of Queensland. For that reason, it is critical that they are frank and accurate.
“I have reviewed the written briefing given to the Government at the time of the C4 incident. I acknowledge that the information which CS Energy used to brief the Government was ambiguous and did not include any commentary on the maturity of CS Energy’s process safety management systems or details of the maintenance backlog. For this, I also extend my apologies to Government.
"I confirm that all funding requests for maintenance and capital expenditure on our generation assets have been approved unadjusted by shareholding Ministers, either through the overhaul approvals process or the annual approval of our Statement of Corporate Intent and Corporate Plan.
“I welcome the Queensland Government’s appointment of two special advisors to the Board of CS Energy to support us in continuing to address matters arising from the incident.
"On an additional note, the Board of CS Energy is aware that earlier this year the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) brought a prosecution against Callide Power Trading (CPT), an entity which is part owned by a CS Energy subsidiary. The proceedings relate to an alleged failure of CPT to maintain protection system requirements during the C4 incident. We are advised that CPT is engaging with the AER to resolve that matter as soon as possible.
“We are now a new Board and Management team with a renewed support for our people at all our power stations. We see this as our chance to turn the corner and we will take that opportunity with both hands.
“The CEO and I have overseen the development of a roadmap for all the improvements that need to be made.
“The plan builds upon the significant improvements made since the Unit C4 incident in May 2021 and addresses the findings from the Brady Heywood Report.”
CS Energy CEO Darren Busine, who was appointed in July 2023, said the business had continued to take action since the two incidents to progressively improve safety for its people and plant at Callide and its other assets across the state.
“The action plan we are releasing today summarises our actions to date, as well as those underway, to build a safer, better CS Energy.
“Brady Heywood’s technical findings are consistent with CS Energy’s technical report released in February this year.
“Whilst on our reading of the Brady Heywood Report, a lack of maintenance did not cause the incident, we clearly have areas of improvement to ensure we operate and maintain our assets to world class standards.
“The Brady Heywood Report found that more effective process safety practices could have assisted CS Energy in identifying and managing the risks associated with bringing the C4 battery charger into service.
“The investigation into the C3 incident concluded that the root cause of the partial collapse was unfavourable water chemistry, with other contributing factors being the original design and construction.
“In support of the statements by the Chair, I am also committed to ensuring we provide clear communications to all stakeholders on the performance and improvement plans for the business.
“There is nothing more important than safety. Our action plan sets out how we will improve our capability to assess, mitigate and control the process safety risks inherent in owning and operating power generation assets.
“In addition, an Independent Advisory Group, chaired by Adjunct Associate Professor Trevor Love and comprising leading experts in process safety and organisational design, has been established to oversee and support us in executing and updating the plan.
“We are committed to learning from these events and giving our people better systems and tools so that they can do their jobs safely.
“We thank our employees for their commitment to the business and to one another, and for their unwavering focus to work with Management to address these reforms so that together we create a long and sustainable future for CS Energy for our coal-fired plant and our new renewable portfolio.”
update
Further to statements made at this morning’s media conference, the Chair confirms that Minister de Brenni was only made aware of the contents of the draft Brady Report, including maintenance backlog and process safety management system issues, just prior to its public release on 24 June 2024.
downloads
Action plan - A safer, better CS Energy (PDF 527.3KB)
Brady Heywood - Technical and Organisational Investigation of the Callide Unit C4 incident (PDF 27.9MB)
Hartz EPM report into partial collapse of Callide Unit C3 cooling tower (PDF 11.8MB)
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).
Callide Energy Pty Ltd owns Callide C in a 50/50 joint venture with IG Power. CS Energy operates Callide C on behalf of the JV.
CS Energy owns 100 per cent of the neighbouring Callide B Power Station.