On 9 February 2024, the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) instituted proceedings in the Federal Court alleging Callide Power Trading Pty Ltd (Callide Power Trading) failed to comply with its performance standards for the Callide C power station.
The AER alleges that Callide Power Trading, the Registered Participant for Callide C, breached rule 4.15(a)(1) and clause 5.2.5(a)(1) of the National Electricity Rules in respect of the Callide C4 generating unit by failing to ensure its plant met or exceeded applicable performance standards, and by failing to plan and design its facilities and ensure they were operated to comply with those performance standards.
The AER is seeking pecuniary penalties, declarations, orders for remedying the breach or preventing the recurrence of the breach, and costs.
Background
On the afternoon of 25 May 2021, an incident occurred involving the trip of multiple generators and high voltage transmission lines in Queensland following an initial event at the Callide C power station. This resulted in the loss of approximately 3,045 MW of generation and 2,300 MW of customer load being disconnected from the power system resulting in widespread blackouts to households and businesses across Queensland.