Australia Callide C coal unit delays return: Correction

Corrects JV partner for Callide C from "InterGen Australia" to "Genuity" in 2nd paragraph.

The troubled Callide C coal-fired power station in the Australian state of Queensland will remain off line until 2024, in a blow to the country's east coast electricity users.

C3 and C4, the two 466MW units of Callide C located at Biloela, 420km north of the state capital Brisbane, are being rebuilt since an explosion in 2021 highlighted problems at the C4 unit. State-owned CS Energy, which operates the Callide C joint venture on behalf of Genuity — formerly known as InterGen Australia — authorised the demolition and rebuilding of the C3 and C4 cooling towers following the failure.

The C4 unit was scheduled to return to part capacity from 31 October this year and full capacity from 31 January 2024, but CS Energy revised those dates to 19 May 2024 and 6 July 2024, respectively.

The C3 unit, which was projected to reach partial capacity on 30 September and full capacity on 31 December this year, will now return to 50pc capacity on 7 January and full capacity on 18 February 2024. The unit suffered a structural failure of the cooling plant in October last year.

CS Energy said updated time frames for the two units follow advice from independent technical experts on the cooling tower rebuilding project, which received revised tenders earlier this year. The company said the new return-to-service dates reflected its priority of returning unit C3 for the peak summer demand period in early 2024, before tackling more difficult recommissioning of the rebuilt C4 unit.

Acting chief executive Andrew Varvari said he accepts that the performance of Callide C's generating units had not been good enough and must be improved. New management is in place in key areas of the business, to improve the performance of the Callide C units alongside a targeted maintenance programme, he added.

"CS Energy is acutely aware of the importance of reliable generation from coal-fired generators such as the Callide C power station, particularly at a time of high gas and coal prices and with reducing coal generation across the energy sector," Varvari said.

Black coal fuels most of Queensland's network, which is part of the eastern Australian National Electricity Market (NEM), but closures of older power stations and weak performance at others has led to increased demand from gas-fired plants.

The country needs to install 45GW of new supply by 2030 to replace coal-fired power stations likely to close in the coming years, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has said. Queensland's government has committed to closing all coal-fired power generation by 2035.

By Tom Major