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25-593: The Callide Dam is an earth and rock-fill dam which was constructed in 1965 to supply water for the Callide Power Station in Mount Murchison near Biloela in the state of Queensland , Australia. The impoundment of the dam is Lake Callide , which holds 136,370 megalitres (3.603 × 10 US gal) at an average depth of 10.5 metres (34 ft) and a surface area of 1,240 hectares (3,100 acres) at full capacity. In 1988, gates were added to

50-444: A new battery charger. In addition, a June 2024 commissioned report into the explosion by a forensic engineer found that a lack of "effective process safety practices" contributed to the incident. Callide Unit C4 was returned to service on 30 August 2024 . A 200 MW solar park with 200 MW / 800 MWh battery is planned for the site. Supercritical steam generator In contrast to a subcritical boiler in which steam bubbles form,

75-529: A new power station near Biloela . Work commenced at the site in February 1963. The design of the plant based around separate generating units and a control room was a first for Queensland. It was also the first power station in Queensland to use dry cooling towers. It had four 30 MW steam turbines, the first of which was operating by June 1965. From its commissioning a drought meant water restrictions at

100-454: A result of burning coal . The Australian Government introduced a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in 2011 to help combat climate change , intended to reduce emissions from power stations. The scheme was replaced in 2014 by a 'direct action' program. The National Pollutant Inventory provides details of other pollutant emissions, but, as at 23 November 2008, not CO 2 . On 25 May 2021, an explosion and subsequent fire at Callide C caused

125-413: A result of heavy rains from ex Tropical Cyclone Debbie . A Stocked Impoundment Permit is required to fish in the dam. Callide Power Station Callide Power Station is an electricity generator at Mount Murchison , Shire of Banana , Queensland , Australia. It is coal powered with eight steam turbines with a combined generation capacity of 1,720 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Callide A

150-537: A significant power outage (including Callide B and parts of Stanwell and Gladstone power stations) that affected over 375,000 premises, and caused increased power prices for weeks. The hydrogen-filled generator had a catastrophic failure, resulting in significant damage. Despite speculation that the plant would close, Callide C3 was repaired at an estimated cost of $ 200M and reopened in April 2024. As of 25 June 2024, Callide C4 turbine had not returned to service. It

175-408: A supercritical steam generator operates above the critical pressure  – 22 megapascals (3,200  psi ) and temperature 374 °C (705 °F). Under these conditions, the liquid water density decreases smoothly with no phase change, becoming indistinguishable from steam . The water temperature drops below the critical point as it does work in a high pressure turbine and enters

200-622: Is a world record for solar thermal energy. These definitions regarding steam generation were found in a report on coal production in China investigated by the Center for American Progress . Nuclear power plant steam typically enters turbines at subcritical values – for U-Tube Steam Generators 77 bar (1,117 psi) and 294 °C (561 °F), with comparable temperature and pressure for Once Through Steam Generators type. The term "advanced ultra-supercritical" (AUSC) or "700°C technology"

225-754: Is sometimes used to describe generators where the water is above 700 °C (1,292 °F). The term High-Efficiency, Low-Emissions ("HELE") has been used by the coal industry to describe supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal generation. Industry leading (as of 2019) Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems charts its gas turbine combined cycle power generation efficiency ( lower heating value ) at well under 55% for gas turbine inlet temp of 1,250 °C (2,282 °F), roughly 56% for 1,400 °C (2,552 °F), about 58% for 1,500 °C (2,732 °F), and 64% for 1,600 °C (2,912 °F), all of which far exceed (due to Carnot efficiency) thresholds for AUSC or Ultra-supercritical technology, which are still limited by

250-626: The Berlin cable factory. This application represented the birth of the modern variable-pressure Benson boiler. After that development, the original patent was no longer used. The "Benson boiler" name, however, was retained. 1957: Unit 6 at the Philo Power Plant in Philo, Ohio was the first commercial supercritical steam-electric generating unit in the world, and it could operate short-term at ultra-supercritical levels. It took until 2012 for

275-413: The baffles and returned to the water pan. The mostly-dry steam was piped out of the drum as the separated steam output of the boiler. These drums were often the source of boiler explosions , usually with catastrophic consequences. However, this drum could be completely eliminated if the evaporation separation process was avoided altogether. This would happen if water entered the boiler at a pressure above

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300-500: The coal-fired Callide Power Station were not operating after a structural failure at the cooling plant brought the C3 unit offline, and later on the B2 unit tripped during scheduled testing, followed by the last unit, B1, also tripping. CS Energy owns 100 per cent of Callide A and Callide B, and owns Callide C in a 50/50 joint venture with IG Power. At the end of 1962 approval was granted for

325-435: The critical pressure (3,206 pounds per square inch, 22.10 MPa); was heated to a temperature above the critical temperature (706 °F, 374 °C) and then expanded (through a simple nozzle) to dry steam at some lower subcritical pressure. This could be obtained at a throttle valve located downstream of the evaporator section of the boiler. As development of Benson technology continued, boiler design soon moved away from

350-572: The first US coal-fired plant designed to operate at ultra-supercritical temperatures to be opened, John W. Turk Jr. Coal Plant in Arkansas . Two innovations have been projected to improve once-through steam generators : On 3 June 2014, the Australian government's research organization CSIRO announced that they had generated 'supercritical steam' at a pressure of 23.5 MPa (3,410 psi) and 570 °C (1,060 °F) in what it claims

375-437: The generator's condenser , resulting in slightly less fuel use. The efficiency of power plants with supercritical steam generators is higher than with subcritical steam because thermodynamic efficiency is directly related to the magnitude of their temperature drop. At supercritical pressure the higher temperature steam is converted more efficiently to mechanical energy in the turbine (as given by Carnot's theorem ). Technically,

400-458: The original concept introduced by Mark Benson. In 1929, a test boiler that had been built in 1927 began operating in the thermal power plant at Gartenfeld in Berlin for the first time in subcritical mode with a fully open throttle valve. The second Benson boiler began operation in 1930 without a pressurizing valve at pressures between 40 and 180 bar (4 and 18 MPa; 580 and 2,611 psi) at

425-462: The radial spillway gates on the dam automatically opened as a result of heavy rain from Tropical Cyclone Marcia . Severe flooding resulted downstream from the dam. In May 2015, a class action lawsuit against the dam operator SunWater was launched by residents affected by the flooding. The class action was dropped in February 2016. The dam's highest recorded level was 102.37% of capacity in March 2017 as

450-440: The spillway to increase the capacity of the dam in 1988. SunWater , the water supply and services company, has undertaken a multi-station upgrade program to ensure highest levels of safety for dams of their responsibility. The Callide spillway was scheduled to be upgraded in the 'medium-term' range from 2008. In 2021, the spillway gates were to be removed and serviced to address vibration during their operation. In February 2015,

475-492: The state of the art in steam turbine development at the time. One of their distinguishing technical characteristics was the riveted water/steam separator drum. These drums were where the water filled tubes were terminated after having passed through the boiler furnace. These header drums were intended to be partially filled with water and above the water there was a baffle filled space where the boiler's steam and water vapour collected. The entrained water droplets were collected by

500-674: The station reduced output. The second set was expected to be operating by May 1966, but was lost at sea while being transported from England. A replacement unit arrived in June 1967. The third set was operating in October 1967 and the fourth in May 1969. The total cost of the project was A$ 28.7 million. Callide A has been in storage since 2001, except for Unit 4 which was being used for the Callide Oxyfuel project. The Callide Oxyfuel project

525-517: The term "boiler" should not be used for a supercritical pressure steam generator as boiling does not occur. Contemporary supercritical steam generators are sometimes referred to as Benson boilers. In 1922, Mark Benson was granted a patent for a boiler designed to convert water into steam at high pressure. Safety was the main concern behind Benson's concept. Earlier steam generators were designed for relatively low pressures of up to about 100  bar (10  MPa ; 1,450  psi ), corresponding to

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550-417: Was being brought forward to 2028. The Callide Power Plant (a.k.a. Callide C) was commissioned in 2001 with two 405 MW advanced cycle steam turbines. Callide C uses a more efficient "supercritical" boiler technology to burn coal to generate electricity. It was built to operate to 2050. Carbon Monitoring for Action estimates this power station emits 5.73 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year as

575-581: Was commissioned in 1965, refurbished in 1998 and decommissioned in 2015/16. As of 2018, generation capacity was 1510 MW. The coal for Callide comes from the nearby Callide Coalfields and water from the Awoonga dam and Stag Creek Pipeline. An explosion and fire at the Callide C power plant in late May 2021 caused a significant power outage that affected over 375,000 premises and raised electricity prices for weeks afterwards. November 2022 all four units at

600-488: Was decommissioned in 2015/16 after demonstrating carbon capture technology for two years. Following on from an aggressive construction program at Tarong Power Station , Callide B was commissioned in 1988 with two 350 MW steam turbines. The Hitachi machines are almost identical to those in Tarong and Stanwell. In October 2019, Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor announced that Callide B's originally planned 2038-39 closure

625-400: Was destroyed in May 2021. As of February 2024, insurance carriers had refused to pay the $ 300M claimed by CS Energy. In June 2024, news reporter Josh Bavas joined Gary Hardgrave on 4BC radio to discuss maintenance failures which led to the catastrophic Callide explosion. However, a February 2024 technical report found that the explosion was caused by a voltage collapse during installation of

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