Callide coal unit returns to service after multiple delays with new cooling tower

A 420MW coal unit at the Callide C Power Station near Biloela in Queensland has been returned to service some 17 months after it was taken offline due to a cooling tower structural failure.

Queensland state owned company CS Energy announced on Tuesday that Unit C3 at the Callide C Power Station had been returned to service over the Easter long weekend following “a thorough commissioning process to test the unit and its new cooling tower over recent weeks.”

Unit C3 at Callide C had been taken offline in late-October 2022 after a structural failure damaged two cells at the units cooling plant. It followed the dramatic fire and explosion at the C4 unit in May, 2021, which led to more than 470,000 customers losing power across the state.

CS Energy – which operates Callide C in a 50/50 joint venture with IG Power – took Unit C3 offline on October 31, 2022, and has since been forced to demolish and rebuild the cooling towers for both units C3 and C4.

Consistent delays had forced CS Energy to push back reopening of Unit C3, but the company announced on Tuesday that the unit was again generating electricity.

“This is a significant milestone in returning our portfolio to full capacity,” said Darren Busine, CS Energy CEO.

“Getting to this point is thanks to the combined effort of the construction crews that built the new Callide C cooling tower and our operations team who have been methodical in their approach to re-commissioning the unit.

“The Callide team will closely monitor the unit as it undergoes further testing and commissioning works before gradually returning it to its full capacity over the coming week.”

CS Energy also announced that Unit C4 will make a staged return to service beginning on June 2024, before returning to full capacity by 31 July.