New Analysis: Coal Broke Down 128 Times Over Summer Period
A new analysis by Reliability Watch shows Australia’s ageing coal power stations broke down a staggering 128 times over the summer period, eight times more than the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) was expecting, outlined in our report.
On average a staggering 5.1 GW of coal fired power station capacity was offline across NSW, Queensland and Victoria from October to March – the equivalent of powering 1.2 million homes. The analysis found a strong correlation between coal breakdowns and high wholesale prices.
Reliability Watch is a new initiative launched by the Queensland Conservation Council, Nature Conservation Council of NSW, and Environment Victoria to live-track the breakdowns of Australia’s ageing coal units. The groups point to the report findings as a key reason Australia needs to urgently build new renewable energy and storage supply to replace our ageing coal fleet.
Queensland Conservation Council director Dave Copeman said:
“This report clearly shows how Australia’s ageing coal power fleet suffers frequent breakdowns and consistently fails to provide the energy the community needs during the peak summer period.
“When coal breaks down unexpectedly, it drives up the wholesale cost of power and can risk our power supply. “Australia’s ageing coal power stations are breaking down nearly every day. Any responsible government can see that we have to urgently build more renewable energy backed by storage to keep the lights on and keep power prices under control.
“In Queensland coal broke down a staggering 78 times over the summer period. It’s alarming that the State Government is talking about throwing billions in taxpayer dollars to keep Queenslanders reliant on our failing coal power stations.
“The Crisafulli Government shamelessly announced they are looking at keeping Callide B coal station open past its retirement less than a week after an explosion at neighbouring Callide C.
“Our analysis shows that the explosion at Callide was not an isolated incident, and in fact, the entire coal fleet is plagued by issues and it’s Queenslanders that ultimately have to pay the cost through higher power bills.
Nature Conservation Council CEO Jacqui Mumford said:
“NSW copped the worst of it in November, when 35% of our coal fired power stations were offline during a heat wave. NSW had the highest prices in the NEM and a lack of reserves.
“It’s clear that our coal fired power stations are not up to the job of keeping our electricity supply secure during summer. At the beginning of October, the coal power operators told the market that only 17% of the coal capacity would be offline for maintenance in November. The actual capacity that broke down was more than double this forecast.
“Batteries were more reliable than coal in November, according to the Climate Council. We need to keep building more renewable energy backed by storage, not wait for another anxious summer of coal breakdowns.”
Environment Victoria Climate Campaign Manager, Joy Toose said:
“This report shows that old Victorian power stations are outdated clunkers ready for retirement, with regular outages and breakdowns leaving a massive 23% average shortfall between their actual generation, and their claimed generation capacity.
"Gippsland is already at 40% renewable energy. This report offers further evidence that delaying the closure of these power stations is unfeasible.
“Yallourn was scheduled for serious maintenance over the summer 2024-25 period, still fixing issues identified in the market suspension period of 2022. Yallourn unit 4 was clearly really struggling, with three breakdowns in seven weeks before its scheduled maintenance then the maintenance took nearly 20 days more than scheduled.
“We need to be planning to retire these stations for good, not entertain the idea that Yallourn will be able to be reliable and secure our energy supply beyond 2028.”
Reliability Watch can be followed at @reliabilitywatch.bsky.social