How Good Is Coal? Callide Power Station Fire

Coal power in Australia copped yet another blow yesterday, with a fire/explosion occurring at Callide Power Station in Queensland.

Callide Power Station is located near Biloela in Central Queensland and is comprised of two black coal fired power plants, Callide B and C; each with two generating units. Callide B has been operating since 1988 and Callide C since 2001. Combined, their capacity is around 1.5GW.

At approximately 1.45pm yesterday, a fire occurred in one of the turbine halls at the facility. The three units that were generating at the time (one was undergoing maintenance) went offline, the power station was evacuated and emergency services called in. Thankfully, no-one was injured.

The incident had a knock-on effect, tripping other generation and transmission infrastructure including Stanwell and Gladstone power stations.

Energex reported a widespread blackouts from the Gold Coast to Caboolture affecting 375,000 of its customers. Ergon Energy noted outages affecting “tens of thousands” of its customers across regional Queensland. Power was restored to many customers by late afternoon, but Queenslanders were asked to conserve energy into the evening.

The cause of the fire is still unknown at this stage and staff are yet to be able to re-enter the plant to start an investigation, so it’s not clear how long Callide will be out of action for.

In addition to the initial chaos caused by the event, it also played havoc with wholesale electricity spot prices in Queensland, which jumped from $50/MWh just prior to the maximum $15,000/MWh between 5pm and 6pm yesterday. At 6.30am this morning, the spot price was just north of $100/MWh, but it’s forecast to go sky-high again this evening.

Greens : Kill Coal!

The Greens have called for the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and the Australian Energy Regulator to launch a safety and reliability inquiry into all Australia’s coal-fired power stations, and renewed its call for all coal power in Australia to be shuttered by 2030.

“The explosion at the Callide coal burning power station and widespread power outages across Queensland provide more proof that coal power is dangerous and has no place in a modern energy system,” the party stated.

Senator Matt Canavan: More Coal!

As expected, Senator Matt Canavan contributed his wisdom twisted logic, stating:

“We have let our energy system become so vulnerable that one explosion takes down the power for thousands of people. Build modern coal fired power stations so we can keep the lights on!”

And just to ensure his message was received, he posted shortly after:

“We need more coal fired power to keep the lights on!”

One of Australia’s newer coal power stations, Callide experienced multiple breakdowns in 2020. On a related note, a report from The Australia Institute published last year found Queensland’s gas and coal power stations were the most unreliable of any state in the National Electricity Market (NEM). 

Ronald’s Take:

“When a coal power station tries to kill itself, the kindest thing for all involved is to let it,” says SQ’s Ronald Brakels. “This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put fires out. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make sure there’s enough capacity to meet demand. But when something that’s killing you kills itself, you shouldn’t knock yourself out trying to bring it back to life.”

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/callide-power-station-mb2011/