“Catastrophic missile”: Report blames coal power plant explosion on safety breaches
A coal-fired power plant explosion described as a “catastrophic missile event” and one of the state’s greatest scandals, could have been avoided, a long-awaited report has found.
Forensic engineer Sean Brady released his draft independent report on the 2021 Callide Power Station’s C4 unit incident in central Queensland, that left almost half a million customers without power.
The damning findings into the explosion near Biloela prompted the government to appoint advisors to the board of the Callide C plant’s state-owned operators CS Energy.
A review of Queensland’s publicly owned energy businesses will also be conducted in the fallout over the draft report.
The report found while engineers were connecting a new battery system, there was a loss of power in the unit and no back-up system was in place following damage from an earlier incident.
The loss of power happened within two seconds, leaving the unit unable to operate normally, shut down safely or disconnect from the grid.
It ensured the turbine motor kept spinning, leading to a “catastrophic” failure of the plant.Pieces of metal, weighing nearly half a tonne, blasted out of the turbine in what was labelled a “missile event”.
There was no evidence that mechanical or metallurgical factors contributed to the explosion.
The review of publicly-owned energy businesses will be carried out before next year’s budget.
The government said further action may be taken when the final report is handed down.